V 



THE WORKS 



OF 



¥ASHIIGTOI IRYIIG 



NEW EDITION, REVISED. 



VOL. X. 


NEVILLE^S ADVENTU 


^<»ry»fC^.,,.. 




NEW- YORK : " ' 


GEOEaE P. PUTNAM 


1850. 



THE 



ADYENTURES 



CAPTAII BONNEVILLE, U. S. a. 



IN THE 



ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND THE EAR WEST. 



DIGESTED FROM HIS JOURNAL AND ILLUSTRATED 
FROM VARIOUS OTHER SOURCES. 



WASHINGTON IRVINa. 

7 



AUTHORS REVISED EDITION. 

COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. 



NEW- YORK : 
GEOHaE P. PUTNAM, 155 BROADWAY, 

And 142 Strand, London. 

1850. 



^-(M-*( 



•111 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by 

Washington Irving, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District 
of New- York. 



John F. Trow, 

Printer and Stereotyper, 

49 Ann-street, N. Y. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

PAOK 

State of the fur trade of the Rocky Mountains — American enterprises — 
General Ashley and his associates — Sublette, a famous leader — Yearly 
rendezvous among the mountains — Stratagems and dangers of the 
trade — Bands of trappers— Indian banditti — Crows and Blackfeet — 
Mountaineers — Traders of the Far West — Character and habits of the 
trapper, . . , . . .19 

CHAPTER n. 

Departure from Fort Osage — Modes of transportation — Pack-horses — 
Wagons — Walker and Cerr^ — their characters — Buoyant feelings on 
launching upon the Prairies — Wild equipments of the trappers — their 
gambols and antics — Difference of character between the American 
and French trappers — Agency of the Kansas — General Clarke — White 
Plume, the Kansas chief — Night scene in a trader's camp — Colloquy 
between White Plume and the captain — Bee-hunters — their expedi- 
tions — their feuds with the Indians — Bargaining talent of White Plume, 29 

CHAPTER III. 

Wide praiiies — Vegetable productions — Tabular hills — Slabs of sandstone 
— Nebraska, or Platte River — Scanty fare — Buffalo skulls — Wagons 



ii CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

turned into boats^Herds of buffalo — Cliffs resembling castles — The 
Chimney — Scott's Bluffs — Story connected with them — The bighorn 
or ahsahta — its nature and habits — Difference between that and the 
" woolly sheep," or goat of the mountains, . . .39 

CHAPTER IV. 

An alarm — Crow Indians — their appearance — mode of approach — their 
vengeful errand — their curiosity — Hostility between the Crows and 
Blackfeet — Loving conduct of the Crows — Laramie's Fork — First na- 
vigation of the Nebraska — Great elevation of the country — Rarety of 
the atmosphere — its effect on the woodwork of the wagons — Black 
hills — their wild and broken scenery — Indian dogs — Crow trophies — 
Sterile and dreary country — Banks of the Sweet Water — Buffalo hunt- 
ing — Adventure of Tom Cain, the Irish cook, . .47 

CHAPTER V. 

Magnificent scenery — Wind River IMountains — Treasury of waters — A 
stray horse — An Indian trail — Trout streams — The Great Green Ri- 
ver valley — An alarm — A band of trappers — Fontenelle, his informa- 
tion — Sufferings of thirst — Encampment on the Seeds-ke-dee — 
Strategy of rival traders — Fortification of the camp — The Blackfeet — 
banditti of the mountains — their character and habits, . . 58 

CHAPTER VI. 

Sublette and his band — Robert Campbell — Mr. Wyeth and a band of 
" down-easters" — Yankee enterprise — Fitzpatrick — his adventure with 
the Blackfeet — A rendezvous of mountaineers — The battle of Pierre's 
Hole — An Indian ambuscade — Sublette's return, . .68 

CHAPTER VIL 

Retreat of the Blackfeet — Fontenelle's camp in danger — Captain Bonne- 
ville and the Blackfeet — Free trappers — their character, habits, dress, 



CONTENTS. iii 

PAGE 

equipments, horses — Game fellows of the mountains — their visit to 
the camp — Good fellowship and good cheer — A carouse — A swagger, 
a brawl, and a reconciliation, . . . . .63 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Plans for the winter — Salmon River — Abundance of salmon west of the 
mountains — New arrangements — Caches — Cerr^'s detachment — Move- 
ments in- Fontenelle's camp — Departure of the Blackfeet — their for- 
tunes — Wind Mountain streams — Buckeye, the Delaware hunter, and 
the grizzly bear — Bones of murdered travellers — Visit to Pierre's Hole 
— Traces of the battle — Nez Perec Indians — Arrival at Salmon River, 89 



CHAPTER IX. 

Horses turned loose — Preparations for winter quarters — Hungry times — 
Nez Perces, their honesty, piety, pacific habits, rehgious ceremonies — 
Captain Bonneville's conversations with them — Their love of gambling, 98 



CHAPTER X. 

Blackfeet in the Horse Prairie — Search after the hunters — Difficulties and 
dangers — A card party in the wilderness — The card party interrupted 
— " Old Sledge " a losing game — Visitors to the camp — Iroquois hunt- 
ers — Hanging-eared Indians, ..... 104 



CHAPTER XI. 

Rival trapping parties — Manoeuvring — A desperate game — Vanderburgh 
and the Blackfeet — Deserted camp fire — A dark defile — An Indian 
ambush — A fierce mel^e — fatal consequences — Fitzpatrick and Bridger 
— Trappers' precautions — Meeting with the Blackfeet — More fighting 
— Anecdote of a young Mexican and an Indian girl, . . 109 



iv CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

PAOK 

A winter camp in the wilderness — Medley of trappers, hunters, and In- 
dians — Scarcity of game — New arrangements in the camp — Detach- 
ments sent to a distance — Carelessness of the Indians when encamped 
— Sickness among the Indians — Excellent character of the Nez Per- 
cys — The captain's efforts as a pacificator — A Nez Perce's argument 
in favor of war — Robberies by the Blackfeet — Long suffering of the 
Nez Percys — A hunter's elysium among the mountains — More rob- 
beries — The captain preaches up a crusade — The effect upon his 
hearers, . . . . . . . .116 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Story of Kosato, the renegade Blackfoot, .... 128 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The party enters the mountain gorge — A wild fastness among hills — 
Mountain mutton — Peace and plenty — The amorous trapper — A pie- 
bald wedding — A free trapper's wife — her gala equipments — Christ- 
mas in the wilderness, ...... 132 

CHAPTER XV. 

A hunt after hunters — Hungry times — A voracious repast — Wintry wea- 
ther — Godin's River — Splendid winter scene on the great lava plain 
of Snake River — Severe travelling and tramping in the snow — Ma- 
noeuvres of a solitary Indian horseman — Encampment on Snake 
River — Banneck Indians — The Horse chief — his charmed life, . 138 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Misadventures of Matthieu and his party — Return to the caches at Sal- 
mon River — Battle between Nez Perces and Blackfeet — Heroism of 
a Nez Perc6 woman — enrolled among the braves, . .148 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

PAOK 

Opening of the caches — Detachments of Cerre and Hodgkiss — Salmon 

River Mountains — Superstition of an Indian trapper — Godin's River 

— Prepararions for trapping — An alarm — An interruption — A rival 

band — Phenomena of Snake River plain — Vast clefts and chasms — 

Ingulfed streams — Sublime scenery — A grand buffalo hunt, . 155 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Meeting with Hodgkiss — Misfortunes of the Nez Percys — Schemes of 
Kosato, the renegade — his foray into the Horse Prairie — Invasion of 
Blackfeet — Blue John, and his forlorn hope — their generous enterprise 
— their fate — Consternation and despair of the village — Solemn obse- 
quies — Attempt at Indian trade — Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly 
— Arrangements for autumn — Breaking up of an encampment, . 163 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Precautions in dangerous defiles — Trappers' mode of defence on a prairie 
— A mysterious visitor — Arrival in Green River valley — Adventures of 
the detachments — The forlorn partisan — His tale of disasters, . 1 73 

CHAPTER XX. 

Gathering in Green River valley — Visitings and feastings of leaders — 
Rough wassailing among the trappers — Wild blades of the mountains 
— Indian belles — Potency of bright beads and red blankets — Arrival of 
supplies — Revelry and extravagance — Mad wolves — The lost Indian, 180 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Schemes of Captain Bonneville— The Great Salt Lake — Expedition to 
explore it — Preparations for a journey to the Bighorn, . . 184 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

PXQH 

The Crow country — A Crow paradise — Habits of the Crows — Anecdotes 
of Rose, the renegade white man — his fights with the Blackfeet — his 
elevation — his death — Arapooish, the Crow chief — his eagle — Adven- 
ture of Robert Campbell — Honor among Crows, . . . 189 

CHAPTER XXm. 

Departure from Green River valley — Popo Agie — its course — the rivers into 
which it runs — Scenery of the Bluffs — The great Tar Spring — Vol- 
canic tracts in the Crow country — Burning mountain of Powder River 
— Sulphur springs — Hidden fires — Colter's Hell — Wind River — Camp- 
bell's party — Fitzpatrick and his trappers — Captain Stewart, an ama- 
teur traveller — Nathaniel Wyeth — anecdotes of his expedition to the 
Far West — Disaster of Campbell's party — A union of bands — The 
Bad Pass — The rapids — Departure of Fitzpatrick — Embarkation of 
peltries — Wyeth and his bull boat — Adventures of Captain Bonne- 
ville in the Bighorn Mountains — Adventures in the plain — Traces of 
Indians — Travelling precautions — Dangers of making a smoke — The 
rendezvous, . . . .... 197 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Adventures of the party of ten — The Balaamite mule — A dead point — 
The mysterious elks — A night attack — A retreat — Travelling under 
an alarm — A joyful meeting — Adventures of the other party — A decoy 
elk — Retreat to an island — A savage dance of triumph — Arrival at 
Wind River, . . ..... 207 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Captain Bonneville sets out for Green River valley — Journey up the Popo 
Agie — Buffaloes — The staring white bears — The smoke — The warm 
springs — Attempt to traverse the Wind River Monjitains — The Great 



CONTENTS. vii 

PASB 

Slope — Mountain dells and chasms — Crystal lakes — Ascent of a 
snowy peak — Sublime prospect — A panorama — " Les dignes de pitie," 
or wild men of the mountains, . . . . .213 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

A retrograde move — Channel of a mountain torrent — Alpine scenery — 
Cascades — Beaver valleys — Beavers at work — their architecture — their 
modes of felling trees — Mode of trapping beaver — Contests of skill — 
A beaver " up to trap " — Arrival at the Green River caches, . 222 

CHAPTER XXVn. 

Route toward Wind River — Dangerous neighborhood — Alarms and pre- 
cautions — A sham encampment — Apparition of an Indian spy — Mid- 
night move — A mountain defile — The Wind River valley — Tracking 
a party — Deserted camps — Symptoms of Crows — Meeting of comrades 
— A trapper entrapped — Crow pleasantry — Crov/ spies — A decamp- 
ment — Return to Green River valley — Meeting with Fitzpatrick's 
party — their adventures among the Crows — Orthodox Crows, . 229 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

A region of natural curiosities — The plain of white clay — Hot springs — 
The Beer Spring — Departure to seek the free trappers — Plain of Port- 
neuf— Lava — Chasms and gullies — Banneck Indians — their hunt of 
the buffalo — Hunters' feast — Trencher heroes — Bullying of an absent 
foe — The damp comrade — The Indian spy — Meeting with Hodgkiss 
— his adventures — Poordevil Indians — Triumph of the Bannecks — 
Blackfeet policy in war, ...... 241 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Winter camp at the Portneuf — Fine springs — The Banneck Indians — 
their honesty — Captain Bonneville prepares for an expedition — Christ- • 



i CONTENTS. 

PAQK 

mas — The American Falls — Wild scenery — Fishing Falls — Snake 
Indians — Scenery on the Biomeau — View of volcanic country from a 
mountain — Powder River — Shoshonies, or Root Diggers — their char- 
acter, habits, habitations, dogs — Vanity at its last shift, . . 251 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Temperature of the climate — Root Diggers on horseback — An Indian 
guide — Mountain prospects — The Grand Rond — DifRculties on Snake 
River — A scramble over the Blue Mountains — Sufferings from hunger 
— Prospect of the Immahah valley — The exhausted traveller, . 262 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Progress in the valley — An Indian cavalier — The captain falls into a 
lethargy — A Nez Perc6 patriarch — Hospitable treatment — The bald 
head — Bargaining — Value of an old plaid cloak — The family horse — 
The cost of an Indian present, ..... 271 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

Nez Perc(3 camp — A chief with a hard name — The Big Hearts of the 
East — Hospitable treatment — The Indian guides — Mysterious coun- 
cils — The loquacious chief — Indian tomb — Grand Indian reception — 
An Indian feast — Town-criers — Honesty of the Nez Perces — The 
captain's attempt at healing, ..... 279 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Scenery of the Way-lee-way — A substitute for tobacco — Sublime scenery 
of Snake River — The garrulous old chief and his cousin — A Nez 
Percd meeting — A stolen skin — The scapegoat dog — Mysterious con- 
ferences — The little chief— his hospitality — The captain's account of 
the United States — His healing skill, .... 289 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

PAGB 

Fort Wallah- Wallah — its commander — Indians in its neighborhood — 
Exertions of Mr. Pambrune for their improvement — Religion — Code 
of laws — Range of the Lower Nez Percys — Camash, and other roots 
— Nez Percd horses — Preparations for departure — Refusal of supplies 
— Departure — A laggard and glutton, .... 299 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

The uninvited guest — Free and easy manners — Salutary jokes — A prodi- 
gal son — Exit of the glutton — A sudden change in fortune — Danger 
of a visit to poor relations — Plucking of a prosperous man — A vaga- 
bond toilet — A substitute for the very fine horse — Hard travelling — 
The uninvited guest and the patriarchal colt — A beggar on horseback 
— A catastrophe — Exit of the merry vagabond, . , . 305 

CHAPTER XXXVl. 

The difficult mountain — A smoke and consultation — The captain's speech 
— An icy turnpike — Danger of a false step — Arrival on Snake 
River — Return to Portneuf — Meeting of comrades, . . .314 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Departure for the rendezvous — A war party of Blackfeet — A mock bus- 
tle — Sham fires at night — Warlike precautions — Dangers of a night 
attack — A panic among horses — Cautious march — The Beer Springs 
— A mock carousal — Skirmishing with buffaloes — A buffalo bait — 
Arrival at the rendezvous — Meeting of various bands, . . 320 

CHAPTER XXXVin. 

Plan of the Salt Lake expedition — Great sandy deserts — Sufferings from 
thirst — Ogden's River — Trails and smoke of lurking savages — Thefts 

1* 



X CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

at night — A trapper's revenge — Alarms of a guilty conscience — 
A murderous victory — Californian mountains — Plains along the Paci- 
fic — Arrival at Monterey — accomit of the place and neighborhood — 
Lower California — its extent — The peninsula — soil — climate — produc- 
tion — Its settlement by the Jesuits — their sway over the Indians — 
their expulsion — Ruins of a Missionary establishment — Sublime 
scenery — Upper California — Missions — their power and policy — Re- 
sources of the country — Designs of foreign nations, . . 326 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Gay life at Monterey — Mexican horsemen — A bold dragoon — Use of the 
laso — ^Vaqueros — Noosing a bear — Fight between a bull and a bear — 
Departure from Monterey — Indian horse stealers — Outrages committed 
by the travellers — Indignation of Captain Bonneville, . . 337 

CHAPTER XL. 

Travellers' tales — Indian lurkers — Prognostics of Buckeye — Signs and 
portents — The medicine wolf — An alarm — An ambush — The captured 
provant — Triumph of Buckeye — Arrival of supplies — Grand carouse — 
Arrangements for the year — Wyeth and his new levied band . 342 

CHAPTER XLI. 
A voyage in a bull boat, ...... 348 

CHAPTER XLH. 

Departure of Captain Bonneville for the Columbia — Advance of Wyeth — 
Efforts to keep the lead — Hudson's Bay party — A junketing — A de- 
lectable beverage — Honey and alcohol — High carousing — The Cana- 
dian hon vivant — A cache — A rapid move — Wyeth and his plans — 
his travelling companions — Buffalo hunting — More conviviality — An 
interruption, . . . . . ^ . . • 367 



I 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

PAOE 

A. rapid inarch — A cloud of dust — Wild horsemen — " High jinks " — 
Horee-racing and rifle shooting — The game of hand — The fishing 
season — Mode of fishing — Table lands — Salmon fishers — The cap- 
tain's visit to an Indian lodge — The Indian girl — The pocket min'or — 
Supper — Troubles of an evil conscience, .... 374 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

Outfit of a trapper — Risks to which he is subjected — Partnership of trap- 
pers — Enmity of Indians — Distant smoke — A country on fire — Gun 
Creek — Grand Rond — Fine pastures — Perplexities in a smoky coun- 
try — Conflagration of forests, . , . . .382 

CHAPTER XLV. 

The Skynses — their traffic — hunting — food — horses — A horse-race — De 
votional feeling of the Skynses, Nez Perces, and Flatheads — Prayers 
— Exhortations — A preacher on horseback — Effect of religion on the 
manners of the tribes — A new light, .... 388 

CHAPTER XLVI 

Scarcity in the camp — Refusal of supplies by the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany — Conduct of the Indians — A hungry retreat — John Day's River 
— The Blue Mountains — Salmon fishing on Snake River — Messen- 
gers from the Crow country — Bear River valley — Immense migration 
of buffalo — Danger of buffalo hunting — A wounded Indian — Eutaw 
Indians — A " surround " of antelopes, .... 394 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

A festive winter — Conversion of the Shoshonies — Visit of two free trap 
pers — Gayety in the camp — A touch of the tender passion — The re 



COWTExNTS. 



Indian fee ladv — Xa •'.iuv^-vacnt — A craraait — 
Oinltee vaine ef a bad wife, 

CHAPTER XLVm. 

fip -It' wmteT qnarteri! — Move to Green Rivi^r — A te apygt mad 
inn nJie — An amvai In camp — A frftc trapper and hi» aqaaw in dia- 

:t.orv ot'.i Blaukfoot b»;ilfc:. ..... 



CHAPJEa XLIX 

A rtiiufr/voiM at Wind River — Campaign of Montern :uui .us iniiur; ■ a 
the Crow rrmmtry — Warn between the Crows and Blackfeet — L*'.- i;:i 
of Arapofjiah — Blackl'e^t lurkers — Sa^city of the horse — Dependence 
of r.hK aiinic' jii n- lur-r- — n.-nim "..i "Ut: -(♦••.t:('!Tit--nta. . 41.5 

APPE^VDiX 

Mr Wyeth, ana .ar. ^ri.i.: of the Far West, . . 423 

Wreck of a Japanese jtmk on the Northwest •-■oacx. 427 

LMtmtrtinna to Captain Bonneville from the Major General commanding 

the Army of the Cnited States. 427 



INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 

While engaged in writing an account of the grand enterprise of 
Astoria, it was my practice to seek all kinds of oral information 
connected with the subject. Nowhere did I pick up more int<jr- 
esting particulars than at the table of Mr. John Jacob Astor; 
who, being the patriarch of the Fur Trade in the United States, 
was accustomed to have at his board various persons of adven- 
turous turn, some of whom had been engaged in his own great 
undertaking ; others, on their own account, had made expeditions 
to the Rocky Mountains and the waters of the Columbia. 

Among these personages, one who peculiarly took my fancy, 
was Captain BoNiNEVille, of the United States army; who, in a 
rambling kind of enterprise, had strangely ingrafted the trapper 
and hunter upon the soldier. As his expeditions and adventures 
will form the leading theme of the following pages, a few biogra- 
phical particulars concerning him may not be unacceptable. 

Captain Bonneville is of French parentage. His father was 
a worthy old emigrant, who came to this country many years 
since, and took up his abode in New- York. He is represented 
as Ionian not much calculated for the sordid struggle of a money- 
making world, but possessed of a happy temperament, a festivity 
of imagination, and a simplicity of heart, that made him proof 
against its rubs and trials. He was an excellent scholar : well 
acquainted with Latin and Greek, and fond of the modern clas- 
sics. His book was his elysium ; once immersed in the pages of 



xiv INTRODUCTION. 

Voltaire, Corneille, or Racine, or of his favorite English author, 
Shakspeare, he forgot the world and all its concerns. Often 
would he be seen in summer weather, seated under one of the 
trees on the Battery, or the portico of St. Paul's church in 
Broadway, his bald head uncovered, his hat lying by his side, 
his eyes riveted to the page of his book, and his whole soul so 
engaged, as to lose all consciousness of the passing throng or the 
passing hour. 

Captain Bonneville, it will be found, inherited something of 
his father's honhommic^ and his excitable imagination : though the 
latter was somewhat disciplined in early years, by mathematical 
studies. He was educated at our national Military Academy at 
West Point, where he acquitted himself very creditably ; thence, 
he entered the army, in which he has ever since continued. 

The nature of our military service took him to the frontier, 
where, for a number of years, he was stationed at various posts 
in the Far West. Here he was brought into frequent intercourse 
with Indian traders, mountain trappers, and other pioneers of the 
wilderness ; and became so excited by their tales of wild scenes 
and wild adventures, and their accounts of vast and magnificent 
regions as yet unexplored, that an expedition to the Rocky 
Mountains became the ardent desire of his heart, and an enter- 
prise to explore untrodden tracts, the leading object of his 
ambition. 

By degrees he shaped this vague day-dream into a practical 
reality. Having made himself acquainted with all the requisites 
for a trading enterprise beyond the mountains, he determined to 
undertake it. A leave of absence, and a sanction of his expedi- 
tion, was obtained from the major general in chief, on his offering 
to combine public utility with his private projects, and to collect 



INTRODUCTION. xv 

statistical information for the War Department, concerning the 
wild countries and wild tribes he might visit in the course of his 
journeyiugs. 

Nothing now was wanting to the darling project of the cap- 
tain, but the ways and means. The expedition would require an 
outfit of many thousand dollars ; a staggering obstacle to a sol- 
dier, whose capital is seldom any thing more than his sword. 
Full of that V buoyant hope, however, which belongs to the san- 
guine temperament, he repaired to New-York, the great focus of 
American enterprise, where there are always funds ready for 
any scheme, however chimerical or romantic. Here he had the 
good fortune to meet with a gentleman of high respectability 
and influence, who had been his associate in boyhood, and who 
cherished a schoolfellow friendship for him. He took a general 
interest in the scheme of the captain ; introduced him to com- 
mercial men of his acquaintance, and in a little while an associa- 
tion was formed, and the necessary funds were raised to carry 
the proposed measure into effect. One of the most efficient per- 
sons in this association was Mr. Alfred Seton, who, when quite a 
youth, had accompanied one of the expeditions sent out by Mr. 
Astor to his commercial establishments on the Columbia, and 
had distinguished himself by his activity and courage at one of 
the interior posts. Mr. Seton was one of the American youths 
lll^ were at Astoria at the time of its surrender to the British, 
and who manifested such grief and indignation at seeing the 
flag of their country hauled down. The hope of seeing that flag 
once more planted on the shores of the Columbia, may have 
entered into his motives for engaging in the present enterprise. 

Thus backed and provided. Captain Bonneville undertook his 
expedition into the Far West, and was soon beyond the Rocky 



xvi INTRODUCTION. 

Mountains. Year after year elapsed without his return. The 
term of his leave of absence expired, yet no report was made of 
him at head quarters at Washington. He was considered virtu- 
ally dead or lost, and his name was stricken from the army list. 

It was in the autumn of 1835, at the country seat of Mr. John 
Jacob Astor, at Hellgate, that I first met with Captain Bonne- 
ville. He was then just returned from a residence of upwards 
of three years among the mountains, and was on his way to 
report himself at head quarters, in the hopes of being reinstated 
in the service. From all that I could learn, his wanderings in 
the wilderness, though they had gratified his curiosity and his 
love of adventure, had not much benefited his fortunes. Like 
Corporal Trim in his campaigns, he had "satisfied the sentiment," 
and that was all. In fact, he was too much of the frank, free- 
hearted soldier, and had inherited too much of his father's tem- 
perament, to make a scheming trapper, or a thrifty bargainer. 
There was something in the whole appearance of the captain that 
prepossessed me in his favor. He was of the middle size, well 
made and well set ; and a military frock of foreign cut, that had 
seen service, gave him a look of compactness. His countenance 
was frank, open, and engaging ; well browned by the sun, and 
had something of a French expression. He had a pleasant black 
eye, a high forehead, and, while he kept his hat on, the look of a 
man in the jocund prime of his days ; but the moment his head^ 
was uncovered, a bald crown gained him credit for a few morwP 
years than he was really entitled to. 

Being extremely curious, at the time, about every thing con- 
nected with the Far West, I addressed numerous questions to 
him. They drew from him a number of extremely striking 
details, which were given with mingled modesty and frankness ; 



INTRODUCTION. ^u 

and in a gentleness of manner, and a soft tone of voice, contrast- 
ing singularly with the wild and often startling nature of his 
themes. It was difficult to conceive the mild, quiet-looking per- 
sonage before you, the actual hero of the stirring scenes related. 

In the course of three or four months, happening to be at the 
city of Washington, I again came upon the captain, who was 
attending the slow adjustment of his affairs with the War 
Department. I found him quartered with a worthy brother in 
arms, a major in the army. Here he was writing at a table, 
covered with maps and papers, in the centre of a large barrack 
room, fancifully decorated with Indian arms, and trophies, and 
war dresses, and the skins of various wild animals, and hung 
round with pictures of Indian games and ceremonies, and scenes 
of war and hunting. In a word, the captain was beguiling the 
tediousness of attendance at court, by an attempt at authorship ; 
and was rewriting and extending his travelling notes, and making 
maps of the regions he had explored. As he sat at the table, 
in this curious apartment, with his high bald head of somewhat 
foreign cast, he reminded me of some of those antique pictures 
of authors that I have seen in old Spanish volumes. 

The result of his labors was a mass of manuscript, which he 
subsequently put at my disposal, to fit it for publication and 
bring it before the world. I found it full of interesting details 
of life among the mountains, and of the singular castes and races, 
bol^^hite men and red men, among whom he had sojourned. It 
bore, too, throughout, the impress of his character, his honliom- 
TTiie^ his kindliness of spirit, and his susceptibility to the grand 
and beautiful. 

That manuscript has formed the staple of the following work. 
I have occasionally interwoven facts and details, gathered from 



xviii INTRODUCTION. 

various sources, especially from the conversations and journals 
of some of the captain's contemporaries, who were actors in the 
scenes he describes. I have also given it a tone and coloring 
drawn from my own observation, during an excursion into the 
Indian country beyond the bounds of civilization ; as I before I 
observed, however, the work is substantially the narrative of the 
worthy captain, and many of its most graphic passages are but 
little varied from his own language. 

I shall conclude this notice by a dedication which he had 
made of his manuscript to his hospitable brother in arms, in 
whose quarters I found him occupied in his literary labors : it is 
a dedication which, I believe, possesses the qualities, not always 
found in complimentary documents of the kind, of being sincere^ 
and being merited. 

TO 

JAMES HARVEY HOOK, 

MAJOR, IT. S. A., 

WHOSE JEALOUSY OF ITS HONOR, 

WHOSE ANXIETY FOR ITS INTERESTS, 

AND 

WHOSE SENSIBILITY FOR ITS WANTS, 

HAVE ENDEARED HI3I TO THE SERVICE AS 

S:|[)e SoltJicr'g j^ricntJ ; 

AND WHOSE GENERAL AMENITY, CONSTANT CHEERFULNESS, 
DISINTERESTED HOSPITALITY, AND UNWEARIED 

BENEVOLENCE, ENTITLE HIM TO THE ^^ 

STILL LOFTIER TITLE OF ^^^ 

THE FRIEND OF MAN, 

THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED, 
ETC. 

New-York, 1843. 



ADVENTURES 



OF 



CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE. 



CHAPTER I. 

State of the far trade of the Rocky Mountains. — American enterprises. — Gene- 
ral Ashley and his associates. — Sublette, a famous leader. — Yearly rendez- 
vous among the mountains. — Stratagems and dangers of the trade. — Bands 
of trappers. — Indian banditti. — Crows and Blackfeet. — Mountaineers. — 
Traders of the Far West. — Character and habits of the trapper. 

In a recent work we have given an account of the grand enter- 
prise of Mr. John Jacob Astor, to establish an American empo- 
rium for the fur trade at the mouth of the Columbia, or Oregon 
Ri^^ ; of the failure of that enterprise through the capture of 
Astoria by the British, in 1814 ; and of the way in which the 
control of the trade of the Columbia and its dependencies fell 
into the hands of the Northwest Company. We have stated, 
likewise, the unfortunate supineness of the American govern- 
ment, in neglecting the application of Mr. Astor for the protec- 
tion of the American flag, and a small military force, to enable 



20 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



him to reinstate himself in the possession of Astoria at the re- 
turn of peace ; when the post was formally given up by the 
British government, though still occupied by the Northwest Com- 
pany. By that supineness the sovereignty in the country has 
been virtually lost to the United States ; and it will cost both 
governments much trouble and difficulty to settle matters on 
that just and rightful footing, on which they would readily have 
been placed, had the proposition of Mr. Astor been attended to. 
We shall now state a few particulars of subsequent events, so as 
to lead the reader up to the period of which we are about to 
treat, and to prepare him for the circumstances of our narrative. 
In consequence of the apathy and neglect of the American 
government, Mr. Astor abandoned all thoughts of regaining 
Astoria, and made no further attempt to extend his enterprise! 
beyond the Rocky Mountains ; and the Northwest Company con- 
sidered themselves the lords of the country. They did not long 
enjoy unmolested the sway which they had somewhat surrepti 
tiously attained. A fierce competition ensued between them ana 
their old rivals, the Hudson's Bay Company ; which was carried 
on at great cost and sacrifice, and occasionally with the loss of 
life. It ended in the ruin of most of the partners of the North- 
west Company ; and the merging of the relics of that establish- 
ment, in 1821, in the rival association. From that time, the 
Hudson's Bay Company enjoyed a monopoly of the Indian trade 
from the coast of the Pacific to the Rocky Mountains, and for a 
considerable extent north and south. They removed their empo- 
rium from Astoria to Fort Vancouver, a strong post on the left 
bank of the Columbia River, about sixty miles from its mouth ; 
whence they furnished their interior posts, and sent forth their 
brigades of trappers. 



GENERAL ASHLEY. 21 



The Rocky Mountains formed a vast barrier between them 
and the United States, and their stern and awful defiles, their 
rugged valleys, and the great western plains watered by their 
rivers, remained almost a terra incognita to the American trap- 
per. The difficulties experienced in 1808, by Mr. Henry of the 
Missouri Company, the first American who trapped upon the 
head-waters of the Columbia ; and the frightful hardships sus- 
tained by Wilson P. Hunt, Ramsay Crooks, Robert Stuart, and 
other intrepid Astorians, in their ill-fated expeditions across the 
mountains, appeared for a time to check all further enterprise 
in that direction. The American traders contented themselves 
with following up the head branches of the Missouri, the Yellow- 
stone, and other rivers and streams on the Atlantic side of the 
mountains, but forbore to attempt those great snow-crowned 
sierras. 

One of the first to revive these tramontane expeditions was 
General Ashley, of Missouri, a man whose courage and achieve- 
ments in the prosecution of his enterprises, have rendered him 
famous in the Far West. In conjunction with Mr. Henry, already 
mentioned, he established a post on the banks of the Yellowstone 
River, in 1822, and in the following year pushed a resolute band 
of trappers across the mountains to the banks of the Green River 
or Colorado of the West, often known by the Indian name of the 
Seeds-ke-dee Agie.* This attempt was followed up and sustained 
by others, until in 1825 a footing was secured, and a complete 
system of trapping organized beyond the mountains. 

It is difficult to do justice to the courage, fortitude, and per- 

* i. e. The Prairie Hen River. Agie in the Crow language signifies 



22 BONNEVILLE^S ADVENTURES. 



severance of the pioneers of the fur trade, who conducted these 
early expeditions, and first broke their way through a wilderness 
where every thing was calculated to deter and dismay them. 
They had to traverse the most dreary and desolate mountains, 
and barren and trackless wastes, uninhabited by man, or occa- 
sionally infested by predatory and cruel savages. They knew 
nothing of the country beyond the verge of their horizon, and 
had to gather information as they wandered. They beheld vol- 
canic plains stretching around them, and ranges of mountains 
piled up to the clouds, and glistening with eternal frost : but 
knew nothing of their defiles, nor how they were to be penetrated 
or traversed. They launched theiliselves in frail canoes on rivers, 
without knowing whither their swift currents would carry them 
or what rocks, and shoals, and rapids, the}" might encounter iv 
their course. They had to be continually on the alert, toe 
against the mountain tribes, who beset every defile, laid ambus- 
cades in their path, or attacked them in their night encampments ; 
so that, of the hardy bands of trappers that first entered into 
these regions, three-fifths are said to have fallen by the hands of 
savage foes. 

In this wild and warlike school a number of leaders have 
sprung up, originally in the employ, subsequently partners of 
Ashley ; among these we may mention Smith, Fitzpatrick, Bridger, 
Robert Campbell, and William Sublette : whose adventures and 
exploits partake of the wildest spirit of romance. The associa- 
tion commenced by General Ashley underwent various modifica- 
tions. That gentleman having acquired sufficient fortune, sold 
out his interest and retired ; and the leading spirit that suc- 
ceeded him was Captain "William Sublette ; a man worthy of 
note, as his name has become renowned in frontier story. He is 



THE RIVAL COMPANIES. 23 



a native of Kentucky, and of game descent ; his maternal grand- 
father, Colonel Wheatley, a companion of Boon, having been 
one of the pioneers of the West, celebrated in Indian warfare, 
and killed in one of the contests of the "Bloody Grround." We 
shall frequently have occasion to speak of this Sublette, and al- 
ways to the credit of his game qualities. In 1830, the associa- 
tion took the name of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, of 
which Captain Sublette and Robert Campbell were prominent 
members. 

In the meantime, the success of this company attracted the 
attention and excited the emulation of the American Fur Com- 
pany, and brought them once more into the field of their ancient 
enterprise. Mr. Astor, the founder of the association, had re- 
tired from busy life, and the concerns of the company were ably 
managed by Mr. Ramsay Crooks, of Snake River renown, who 
still officiates as its president. A competition immediately en- 
sued between the two companies, for the trade with the mountain 
tribes, and the trapping of the head-waters of the Columbia, and 
the other great tributaries of the Pacific. Beside the regular 
operations of these formidable rivals, there have been from time 
to time desultory enterprises, or rather experiments, of minor 
associations, or of adventurous individuals, beside roving bands 
of independent trappers, who either hunt for themselves, or en- 
gage for a single season, in the service of one or other of the 
main companies. 

The consequence is, that the Rocky Mountains and the ulte- 
rior regions, from the Russian possessions in the north, down to 
the Spanish settlements of California, have been traversed and 
ransacked in every direction by bands of hunters and Indian 
traders ; so that there is scarcely a mountain pass, or defile, that 



24 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



is not known and threaded in tlieir restless migrations, nor a 
nameless stream that is not haunted hj the lonely trapper. 

The American fur companies keep no established posts be- 
yond the mountains. Every thing there is regulated by resident 
partners ; that is to say, partners who reside in the tramontane 
country, but who move about from place to place, either with 
Indian tribes, whose traffic they wish to monopolize, or with main 
bodies of their own men, whom they employ in trading and trap- 
ping. In the meantime, they detach bands, or •• brigades " as 
they are termed, of trappers in various directions, assigning to 
each a portion of country as a hunting, or trapping ground. In 
the months of June and July, when there is an interval between 
the hunting seasons, a general rendezvous is held, at some desig- 
nated place in the mountains, where the affairs of the past year 
are settled by the resident partners, and the plans for the follow- 
ing year arranged. 

To this rendezvous repair the various brigades of trappers 
from their widely separated hunting grounds, bringing in the 
products of their year's campaign. Hither also repair the In- 
dian tribes accustomed to traffic their peltries with the company. 
Bands of free trappers resort hither also, to sell the furs they 
have collected ; or to engage their services for the next hunting 
season. 

To this rendezvous the company sends annually a convoy of 
supplies from its establishment on the Atlantic frontier, under 
the guidance of some experienced partner or officer. On the 
arrival of this convoy, the resident partner at the rendezvous 
depends, to set all his next year's machinery in motion. 

Now as the rival companies keep a vigilant eye upon each 
other, and are anxious to discover each other's plans and move- 



DANGERS OF THE TRADE. 25 



ments. they generally contrive to bold their annual assemblages 
at no great distance apart. An eager competition exists also 
between their respective convoys of supplies, which shall first 
reach its place of rendezvous. For this purpose, they set off 
with the first appearance of grass on the Atlantic frontier, and 
push with all diligence for the mountains. The company that 
can first open its tempting supplies of coffee, tobacco, ammuni- 
tion, scarlet cloth, blankets, bright shawls, and glittering trink- 
ets, has the greatest chance to get all the peltries and furs of the 
Indians and free trappers, and to engage their services for the 
next season. It is able, also, to fit out and dispatch its own 
trappers the soonest, so as to get the start of its competitors, 
and to have the first dash into the hunting and trapping grounds. 

A new species of strategy has sprung out of this hunting 
and trapping competition. The constant study of the rival bands 
is to forestall and outwit each other ; to supplant each other in 
the good will and custom of the Indian tribes ; to cross each 
other's plans ; to mislead each other as to routes ; in a word, 
next to his own advantage, the study of the Indian trader is the 
disadvantage of his competitor. 

The influx of this wandering trade has had its effects on the 
habits of the mountain tribes. They have found the trapping of 
the beaver their most profitable species of hunting ; and the 
traffic with the white man has opened to them sources of luxury 
of which they previously had no idea. The introduction of fire- 
arms has rendered them more successful hunters, but at the same 
time, more formidable foes ; some of them, incorrigibly savage 
and warlike in their nature, have found the expeditions of the 
fur traders, grand objects of profitable adventure. To waylay 
and harass a band of trappers with their pack-horses, when em- 

2 



26 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



barrassed in the rugged defiles of the mountains, has become as 
favorite an exploit with these Indians as the plunder of a caravan 
to the Arab of the desert. The Crows and Blackfeet, who were 
such terrors in the path of the early adventurers to Astoria, still 
continue their predatory habits, but seem to have brought them 
ta greater system. They know the routes and resorts of the 
trappers ; where to waylay them on their journeys ; where to find 
them in the hunting seasons, and where to hover about them in 
winter quarters. The life of a trapper, therefore, is a perpetual 
state militant, and he must sleep with his weapons in his hands. 

A new order of trappers and traders, also, have grown out of 
this system of things. In the old times of the great Northwest 
Company, when the trade in furs was pursued chiefly about the 
lakes and rivers, the expeditions were carried on in batteaux and 
canoes. The voyageurs or boatmen were the rank and file in the 
service of the trader, and even the hardy '• men of the north," 
those great rufflers and game birds, were fain to be paddled from 
point to point of their migrations. 

A totally different class has now sprung up ; — '• the Moun- 
taineers," the traders and trappers that scale the vast mountain 
chains, and pursue their hazardous vocations amidst their wild 
recesses. They move from place to place on horseback. The 
equestrian exercises, therefore, in which they are engaged, the 
nature of the countries they traverse, vast plains and mountains, 
pure and exhilarating in atmospheric qualities, seem to make them 
physically and mentally a more lively and mercurial race than 
the fur traders and trappers of former days, the self-vaunting 
" men of the north." A man who bestrides a horse, must be 
essentially different from a man who cowers in a canoe. We find 
them, accordingly, hardy, lithe, vigorous, and active ; extravagant 



CHARACTER OF THE TRAPPER. 87 



in word, in thought, and deed ; heedless of hardship ; daring 
of danger ; prodigal of the present, and thoughtless of the 
future. 

A difference is to be perceived even between these mountain 
hunters and those of the lower regions along the waters of the 
Missouri. The latter, generally French Creoles, live comfortably 
in cabins and log-huts, well sheltered from the inclemencies of 
the seasons. They are within the reach of frequent supplies 
from the settlements ; their life is comparatively free from dan- 
ger, and from most of the vicissitudes of the upper wilderness. 
The consequence is, that they are less hardy, self-dependent and 
game-spirited, than the mountaineer. If the latter by chance 
comes among them on his way to and from the settlements, he is 
like a game-cock among the common roosters of the poultry-yard. 
Accustomed to live in tents, or to bivouac in the open air, he 
despises the comforts and is impatient of the confinement of the 
log-house. If his meal is not ready in season, he takes his rifle, 
hies to the forest or prairie, shoots his own game, lights his fire, 
and cooks his repast. With his horse and his rifle, he is inde- 
pendent of the world, and spurns at all its restraints. The very 
superintendents at the lower posts will not put him to mess with 
the common men, the hirelings of the establishment, but treat 
him as something superior. 

There is, perhaps, no class of men on the face of the earth, 
says Captain Bonneville, who lead a life of more continued exer- 
tion, peril, and excitement, and who are more enamored of their 
occupations, than the free trappers of the West. No toil, no 
danger, no privation can turn the trapper from his pursuit. His 
passionate excitement at times resembles a mania. In vain may 
the most vigilant and cruel savages beset his path ; in vain may 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



rocks, and precipices, and wintry torrents oppose his progress ; 
let but a single track of a beaver meet his eye, and he forgets all 
dangers and defies all difficulties. At times, he may be seen with 
his traps on his shoulder, buffeting his way across rapid streams, 
amidst floating blocks of ice : at other times, he is to be found 
with his traps swung on his back clambering the most rugged 
mountains, scaling or descending the most frightful precipices, 
searching, by routes inaccessible to the horse, and never before 
trodden by white man, for springs and lakes unknown to his 
comrades, and where he may meet with his favorite game. Such 
is the mountaineer, the hardy trapper of the West ; and such, 
as we have slightly sketched it, is the wild, Robin Hood kind of 
life, with all its strange and motley populace, now existing in full 
vigor among the Rocky Mountains. 

Having thus given the reader some idea of the actual state 
of the fur trade in the interior of our vast continent, and made 
him acquainted with the wild chivalry of the mountains, we will 
no longer delay the introduction of Captain Bonneville and his 
band into this field of their enterprise, but launch them at once 
upon the perilous plains of the Far West. 



DEPARTURE FROM FORT OSAGE. 



CHAPTER II. 

Departure irorn Fort Osage. — Modes of transportation. — Pack-horses. — Wag- 
ons. — Walker and Cerrd ; their characters. — Buoyant feelings on launch- 
ing upon the Prairies. — Wild equipments of the trappers. — Their gambols 
and antics. — Difference of character between the American and French 
trappers. — Agency of the Kansas. — General Clarke. — White Plume, the 
Kansas Chief — Night scene in a trader's camp. — Colloquy between White 
Plume and the Captain. — Bee-hunters. — Their expeditions. — Their feuds 
with the Indians. — Bargaining talent of White Plume. 

It was on the first of May, 1832, that Captain Bonneville took 
his departure from the frontier post of Fort Osage, on the Mis- 
souri. He had enlisted a party of one hundred and ten men, 
most of whom had been in the Indian country, and some of whom 
were experienced hunters and trappers. Fort Osage, and other 
places on the borders of the western wilderness, abound with 
characters of the kind, ready for any expedition. 

The ordinary mode of transportation in these great inland 
expeditions of the fur traders is on mules and pack-horses ; but 
Captain Bonneville substituted wagons. Though he was to 
travel through a trackless wilderness, yet the greater part of his 
route would lie across open plains, destitute of forests, and where 
wheel carriages can pass in every direction. The chief difficulty 
occurs in passing the deep ravines cut through the prairies by 



30 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



streams and winter torrents. Here it is often necessary to dig 
a road down the banks, and to make bridges for the wagons. 

In transporting his baggage in vehicles of this kind, Captain 
Bonneville thought he would save the great delay caused every 
morning by packing the horses, and the labor of unpacking in the 
evening. Fewer horses also would be required, and less risk 
incurred of their wandering away, or being frightened or carried 
off by the Indians. The wagons, also, would be more easily de- 
fended, and might form a kind of fortification in case of attack 
in the open prairies. A train of twenty wagons, drawn by oxen, 
or by four mules or horses each, and laden with merchandise, 
ammunition, and provisions, were disposed in two columns in the 
centre of the party, which was equally divided into a van and a 
rear-guard. As sub-leaders or lieutenants in his expedition, 
Captain Bonneville had made choice of Mr. I. R. Walker and 
Mr. M. S. Cerre. The former was a native of Tennessee, about 
six feet high, strong built, dark complexioned, brave in spirit, 
though mild in manners. He had resided for many years in 
Missouri, on the frontier ; had been among the earliest adven- 
turers to Santa Fe, where he went to trap beaver, and was taken 
by the Spaniards. Being liberated, he engaged with the Spa- 
niards and Sioux Indians in a war against the Pawnees : then 
returned to Missouri, and had acted by turns as sheriff, trader, 
trapper, until he was enlisted as a leader by Captain Bonneville. 

Cerre, his other leader, had likewise been in expeditions to 
Santa Fe. in which he had endured much hardship. He was of 
the middle size, light complexioned. and though but about twenty- 
five years of age, was considered an experienced Indian trader. 
It was a great object with Captain Bonneville to get to the moun- 
tains before the summer heats and summer flies should ren- 



APPEARANCE AND EQUIPMENTS. 31 



der the travelling across the prairies distressing ; and before the 
annual assemblages of people connected with the fur trade, should 
have broken up, and dispersed to the hunting grounds. 

The two rival associations already mentioned, the American 
Fur Company and the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, had their 
several places of rendezvous for the present year at no great dis- 
tance apart, in Pierre's Hole, a deep valley in the heart of the 
mountains, and thither Captain Bonneville intended to shape his 
course. 

It is not easy to do justice to the exulting feelings of the 
worthy captain, at finding' himself at the head of a stout band of 
hunters, trappers, and woodmen ; fairly launched on the broad 
prairies, with his face to the boundless West. The tamest inhab- 
itant of cities, the veriest spoiled child of civilization, feels his 
heart dilate and his pulse beat high, on finding himself on horse- 
back in the glorious wilderness ; what then must be the excite- 
ment of one whose imagination had been stimulated by a resi- 
dence on the frontier, and to whom the wilderness was a region 
of romance ! 

His hardy followers partook of his excitement. Most of 
them had already experienced the wild freedom of savage life, 
and looked forward to a renewal of past scenes of adventure and 
exploit. Their very appearance and equipment exhibited a pie- 
bald mixture, half civilized and half savage. Many of them 
looked more like Indians than white men, in their garbs and ac- 
coutrements, and their very horses were caparisoned in barbaric 
rftyle, with fantastic trappings. The outset of a band of adven- 
turers on one of these expeditions is always animated and joyous. 
The welkin rang with their shouts and yelps, after the manner of 
the savages ; and with boisterous jokes and light-hearted laughter. 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



As thej passed the straggling hamlets and solitary cabins that 
fringe the skirts of the frontier, they would startle their inmates 
by Indian yells and war-whoops, or regale them with grotesque 
feats of horsemanship, well suited to their half savage appear- 
ance. Most of these abodes were inhabited by men who had 
themselves been in similar expeditions ; they welcomed the travel 
lers, therefore, as brother trappers, treated them with a hunter's 
hospitality, and cheered them with an honest God speed, at 
parting. 

And here we would remark a great difference, in point of cha- 
racter and quality, between the two classes of trappers, the 
"American*' and '-French," as they are called in contradistinc- 
tion. The latter is meant to designate the French Creole of 
Canada or Louisiana ; the former, the trapper of the old Ameri- 
can stock, from Kentucky, Tennessee, and others of the western 
States. The French 'trapper is represented as a lighter, softer, 
more self-indulgent kind of man. He must have his Indian wife. 
his lodge, and his petty conveniences. He is gay and thoughtless, 
takes little heed of landmarks, depends upon his leaders and 
companions to think for the common weal. and. if left to himself, 
is easily perplexed and lost. 

The American trapper stands by himself, and is peerless for 
the service of the wilderness. Drop him in the midst of a prai- 
rie, or in the heart of the mountains, and he is never at a loss. 
He notices ever}' landmark : can retrace his route through the 
most monotonous plains, or the most perplexed labyrinths of the 
mountains ; no danger nor difficulty can appal him. and he scorns 
to complain under any privation. In equipping the two kinds of 
trappers, the Creole and Canadian are apt to prefer the light 
fusee ; the American always grasps his rifle ; he despises what 



KANSAS AGENCY. 33 



he calls the "shot-gun." We give these estimates on the au- 
thority of a trader of long experience, and a foreigner by birth. 
" I consider one American," said he, " equal to three Canadians 
in point of sagacity, aptness at resources, self-dependence, and 
fearlessness of spirit. In fact, no one can cope with him as a 
stark tramper of the wilderness." 

Beside the two classes of trappers just mentioned. Captain 
Bonneville had enlisted several Delaware Indians in his employ, 
on whose hunting qualifications he placed great reliance. 

On the 6th of May the travellers passed the last border habi- 
tation, and bade a long farewell to the ease and security of civili- 
zation. The buoyant and clamorous spirits with which they had 
commenced their march, gradually subsided as they entered upon 
its difficulties. They found the prairies saturated with the heavy 
cold rains, prevalent in certain seasons of the year in this part 
of the country, the wagon wheels sank deep in the mire, the hor- 
ses were often to the fetlock, and both steed and rider were com- 
pletely jaded by the evening of the 12th, when they reached the 
Kansas River ; a fine stream about three hundred yards wide, 
entering the Missouri from the south. Though fordable in almost 
every part at the end of summer and during the autumn, yet it 
was necessary to construct a raft for the transportation of the 
wagons and effects. All this was done in the course of the fol- 
lowing day, and by evening, the whole party arrWed at the agency 
of the Kansas tribe. This was under the superintendence of Gen- 
eral Clarke, brother of the celebrated traveller of the same name, 
who, with Lewis, made the first expedition down the waters of the 
Columbia. He was living like a patriarch, surrounded by labor- 
ers and interpreters, all snugly housed, and provided with excel- 
lent farms. The functionary next in consequence to the agent, 

2* 



34 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



was the blacksmith, a most important, and, indeed, indispensable 
personage in a frontier community. The Kansas resemble the 
Osages in features, dress, and language ; they raise corn and 
hunt the buffalo, ranging the Kansas River, and its tributary 
streams ; at the time of the captain's visit, they were at war with 
the Pawnees of the Nebraska, or Platte River. 

The unusual sight of a train of wagons, caused quite a sen- 
sation among these savages : who thronged about the caravan, 
examining every thing minutely, and asking a thousand ques- 
tions : exhibiting a degree of excitability, and a lively curiosity, 
totally opposite to that apathy with which their race is so often 
reproached. 

The personage who most attracted the captain's attention at 
this place, was '• White Plume," the Kansas chief, and they soon 
became good friends. White Plume (we are pleased with his 
chivalrous souhriguet) inhabited a large stone house, built for 
him by order of the American government : but the establish- 
ment had not been carried out in corresponding style. It might 
be palace without, but it was wigwam within ; so that, between 
the stateliness of his mansion, and the squalidness of his furni- 
ture, the gallant White Plume presented some such whimsical 
incongruity as we see in the gala equipments of an Indian chief, 
on a treaty-making embassy at Washington, who has been gene- 
rously decked out in cocked hat and military coat, in contrast 
to his breech-clout and leathern leggins ; being grand officer at 
top, and ragged Indian at bottom. 

White Plume was so taken with the courtesy of the captain, 
and pleased with one or two presents received from him, that he 
accompanied him a day's journey on his march, and passed a night 
in his camp, on the margin of a small stream. The method of 



THE ENCAMPMENT. 35 



encamping generally observed by the captain, was as follows : 
The twenty wagons were disposed in a square, at the distance of 
thirty-three feet from each other. In every interval there was a 
mess stationed ; and each mess had its fire, where the men 
cooked, ate, gossiped, and slept. The horses were placed in the 
centre of the square, with a guard stationed over them at night. 

The horses were " side lined," as it is termed : that is to say, 
the fore and hind foot on the same side of the animal were tied 
together, so as to be within eighteen inches of each other. A 
horse thus fettered is for a time sadly embarrassed, but soon be- 
comes sufficiently accustomed to the restraint to move about 
slowly. It prevents his wandering ; and his being easily carried 
off at night by lurking Indians. When a horse that is " foot 
free," is tied to one thus secured, the latter forms, as it were, a 
pivot, round which the other runs and curvets, in case of alarm. 

The encampment of which we are speaking, presented a 
striking scene. The various mess-fires were surrounded by pictu- 
resque groups, standing, sitting, and reclining ; some busied in 
cooking, others in cleaning their weapons : while the frequent laugh 
told that the rough joke, or merry story was going on. In the 
middle of the camp, before the principal lodge, sat the two 
chieftains. Captain Bonneville and White Plume, in soldier-like 
communion, the captain delighted with the opportunity of meet- 
ing, on social terms, with one of the red warriors of the wilder- 
ness, the unsophisticated children of nature. The latter was 
squatted on his buffalo robe, his strong features and red skin 
glaring in the broad light of a blazing fire, while he recounted 
astounding tales of the bloody exploits of his tribe and himself, 
in their wars with the Pawnees ; for there are no old soldiers 
more given to long campaigning stories, than Indian " braves." 



36 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



The feuds of White Plume, however, had not been confined 
to the red men ; he had much to say of brushes with bee hunters, 
a class of offenders for whom he seemed to cherish a particular 
abhorrence. As the species of hunting prosecuted by these 
worthies is not laid down in any of the ancient books of venerie, 
and is, in fact, peculiar to our western frontier, a word or two on 
the subject may not be unacceptable to the reader. 

The bee hunter is generally some settler on the verge of the 
prairies ; a long, lank fellow, of fever and ague complexion, ac- 
quired from living on new soil, and in a hut built of green logs. 
In the autumn, when the harvest is over, these frontier settlers 
form parties of two or three, and prepare for a bee hunt. Having 
provided themselves with a wagon, and a number of empty casks, 
they sally off. armed with their rifles, into the wilderness, direct- 
ing their course east, west, north, or south, without any regard to 
the ordinance of the American government, which strictly forbids 
all trespass upon the lands belonging to the Indian tribes. 

The belts of woodland that traverse the lower prairies, and 
border the rivers, are peopled by innumerable swarms of wild 
bees, which make their hives in hollow trees, and fill them with 
honey tolled from the rich flowers of the prairies. The bees, ac- 
cording to popular assertion, are migrating like the settlers, to 
the west. An Indian trader, well experienced in the country, in- 
forms us that within ten years that he has passed in the Far West, 
the ^ee lias advanced westward above a hundred miles. It is 
Slid on the Missouri, that the wild turkey and the wild bee go up 
the river together : neither are found in the upper regions. It 
is but recently that the wild turkey has been killed on the Ne- 
braska, or Platte : and his travelling competitor, the wild bee. 
appeared there about the same time. 



BEE HUNTERS. 37 



Be all this as it may : the course of our party of bee hunters, 
is to make a wide circuit through the woody river bottoms, and 
the patches of forest on the prairies, marking, as they go out, 
every tree in which they have detected a hive. These marks are 
generally respected by any other bee hunter that should come 
upon their track. When they have marked sufficient to fill all 
their casks, they turn their faces homeward, cut down the trees 
as they proc.eed, and having loaded their wagon with honey and 
wax, return well pleased to the settlements. 

Now it so happens that the Indians relish wild honey as 
highly as do the white men, and are the more delighted with this 
natural luxury from its having, in many instances, but recently 
made its appearance in their lands. The consequence is, number- 
less disputes and conflicts between them and the bee hunters : 
and often a party of the latter, returning, laden with rich spoil, 
from one of their forays, are apt to be waylaid by the native 
lords of the soil ; their honey to be seized, their harness cut to 
pieces, and themselves left to find their way home the best way 
they can, happy to escape with no greater personal harm than a 
sound rib-roasting. 

Such were the marauders of whose offences the gallant White 
Plume made the most bitter complaint. They were chiefly the 
settlers of the western part of Missouri, who are the most famous 
bee hunters on the frontier, and whose favorite hunting ground 
lies within the lands of the Kansas tribe. According to the ac- 
count of White Plume, however, matters were pretty fairly 
balanced between him and the offenders ; he having as often 
treated them to a taste of the bitter, as they had robbed him of 
the sweets. 

It is but justice to this gallant chief to say, that he gave 



38 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



proofs of having acquired some of the lights of civilization from 
his proximity to the whites, as was evinced in his knowledge of 
driving a bargain. He required hard cash in return for some corn 
with which he supplied the worthy captain, and left the latter at 
a loss which most to admire, his native chivalry as a brave, or his 
acquired adroitness as a trader. 



WIDE PRAIRIES. 3» 



CHAPTER III. 

Wide prairies.— Vegetable productions. — Tabular hills. — Slabs of sandstone. — 
Nebraska or Platte River. — Scanty fare. — Buffalo skulls. — Wagons turned 
into boats. — Herds of buffalo. — Cliffs resembling castles. — The chimney. — 
Scott's Bluffs. — Story connected with them. — The bighorn or ahsahta — its 
nature and habits. — Difference between that and the " woolly sheep," or 
goat of the mountains. 

From the middle to the end of May, Captain Bonneville pursued 
a western course over vast undulating plains, destitute of tree or 
shrub, rendered miry by occasional rain, and cut up by deep 
water-courses, where they had to dig roads for their wagons down 
the soft crumbling banks, and to throw bridges across the 
streams. The weather had attained the summer heat ; the 
thermometer standing about fifty-seven degrees in the morning, 
early, but rising to about ninety degrees at noon. The incessant 
breezes, however, which sweep these vast plains, render the heats 
endurable. Game was scanty, and they had to eke out their 
scanty fare with wild roots and vegetables, such as the Indian 
potato, the wild onion, and the prairie tomato, and they met with 
quantities of " red root," from which the hunters make a very 
palatable beverage. The only human being that crossed their 
path was a Kansas warrior, returning from some solitary expedi- 
tion of bravado or revenge, bearing a Pawnee scalp as a trophy. 



40 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



The country gradually rose as they proceeded westward, and 
their route took them over high ridges, commanding wide and 
beautiful prospects. The vast plain was studded on the west 
with innumerable hills of conical shape, such as are seen north 
of the Arkansas River. These hills have their summits appa- 
rently cut off about the same elevation, so as to leave flat sur- 
faces at top. It is conjectured by some, that the whole country 
may originally have been of the altitude of these tabular hills ; 
but through some process of nature may have sunk to its present 
level ; these insulated eminences being protected by broad foun- 
dations of solid rock. 

Captain Bonneville mentions another geological phenomenon 
north of Red River, where the surface of the earth, in considera- 
ble tracts of country, is covered with broad slabs of sandstone, 
having the form and position of grave-stones, and looking as if 
they had been forced up by some subterranean agitation. " The 
resemblance," says he, " which these very remarkable spots have 
in many places to old church-yards is curious in the extreme. 
One might almost fancy himself among the tombs of the pre- 
Adamites." 

On the 2d of June, they arrived on the main stream of the 
Nebraska or Platte River ; twenty -five miles below the head of 
the Great Island. The low banks of this river give it an appear- 
ance of great width. Captain Bonneville measured it in one 
place, and found it twenty-two hundred yards from bank to bank. 
Its depth was from three to six feet, the bottom full of quick- 
sands. The Nebraska is studded with islands covered with that 
species of poplar called the cotton-wood tree. Keeping up along 
the course of this river for several days, they were obliged, from 
the scarcity of game, to put themselves upon short allowance, and, 



FORT OF THE NEBRASKA. 41 



occasionally, to kill a steer. They bore their daily labors and 
privations, however, with great good humor, taking their tone, in 
all probability, from the buoyant spirit of their leader. " If the 
weather was inclement," sa3^s the captain, "we watched the 
clouds, and hoped for a sight of the blue sky and the merry sun. 
If food was scanty, we regaled ourselves with the hope of soon 
falling in with herds of buffalo, and having nothing to do but 
slay and eat." We doubt whether the genial captain is not de- 
scribing the cheeriness of his own breast, which gave a cheery 
aspect to eyerj thing around him. 

There certainly were evidences, however, that the country was 
not always equally destitute of game. At one place, they ob- 
served a field decorated with buffalo skulls, arranged in circles, 
( curves, and other mathematical figures, as if for some mystic rite 
I or ceremony. They were almost innumerable, and seemed to 
I have been a vast hecatomb offered up in thanksgiving to the 
I Great Spirit for some signal success in the chase. 
( On the 11th of June, they came to the fork of the Nebraska, 
! where it divides itself into two equal and beautiful streams. One 
j of these branches rises in the west-southwest, near the head wa- 
I ters of the Arkansas. Up the course of this branch, as Captain 
Bonneville was well aware, lay the route to the Camanche and 
Kioway Indians, and to the northern Mexican settlements ; of 
the other branch he knew nothing. Its sources might lie among 
wild and inaccessible cliffs, and tumble and foam down rugged de- 
files and over craggy precipices ; but its direction was in the true 
course, and up this stream he determined to prosecute his route 
to the Rocky Mountains. Finding it impossible, from quicksands 
and other dangerous impediments, to cross the river in this neigh- 
borhood, he kept up along the south fork for two days, merely 



42 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



seeking a safe fording place. At length he encamped, caused 
the bodies of the wagons to be dislodged from the wheels, covered 
with buflfalo hides, and besmeared with a compound of tallow and 
ashes ; thus forming rude boats. In these, they ferried their 
eflfects across the stream, which was six hundred yards wide, with 
a swift and strong current. Three men were in each boat, to 
manage it ; others waded across, pushing the barks before them. 
Thus all crossed in safety. A march of nine miles took them 
over high rolling prairies to the north fork ; their eyes being 
regaled with the welcome sight of herds of buflfalo at a distance, 
some careering the plain, others grazing and reposing in the 
natural meadows. 

Skirting along the north fork for a day or two, excessively 
annoyed by musquitoes and buffalo gnats, they reached, in the 
evening of the 17th, a small but beautiful grove, from which 
issued the confused notes of singing birds, the first they had 
heard since crossing the boundary of Missouri. After so many 
days of weary travelling, through a naked, monotonous and silent 
country, it was delightful once more to hear the song of the bird, 
and to behold the verdure of the grove. It was a beautiful sun- 
set, and a sight of the glowing rays, mantling the tree-tops and 
rustling branches, gladdened every heart. They pitched their 
camp in the grove, kindled their fires, partook merrily of their 
rude fare, and resigned themselves to the sweetest sleep they had 
enjoyed since their outset upon the prairies. 

The country now became rugged and broken. High blufts 
advanced upon the river, and forced the travellers occasionally to 
leave its banks and wind their course into the interior. In one 
of the wild and solitary passes, they were startled by the trail of 
four or five pedestrians, whom they supposed to be spies from 



SCOTT'S BLUFFS. 43 



some predatory camp of either Arickara or Crow Indians. This 
obliged them to redouble their vigilance at night, and to keep 
especial watch upon their horses. In these rugged and elevated 
regions they began to see the black-tailed deer, a species larger 
than the ordinary kind, and chiefly found in rocky and mountain- 
ous countries. They had reached also a great buffalo range ; 
Captain Bonneville ascended a high bluff, commanding an exten- 
nve view of the surrounding plains. As far as his eye could 
reach, the country seemed absolutely blackened by innumerable 
lerds. No language, he says, could convey an adequate idea of 
:he vast living mass thus presented to his eye. He remarked 
;hat the bulls and cows generally congregated in separate herds. 

Opposite to the camp at this place, was a singular phenome- 
lon, which is among the curiosities of the country. It is called 
:he chimney. The lower part is a conical mound, rising out of 
ihe naked plain ; from the summit shoots up a shaft or column, 
ibout one hundred and twenty feet in height, from which it de- 
•ives its name. The height of the whole, according to Captain 
Bonneville, is a hundred and seventy-five yards. It is composed 
)f indurated clay, with alternate layers of red and white sand- 
itone, and may be seen at the distance of upwards of thirty 
niles. 

On the 21st, they encamped amidst high and beetling cliffs 
)f indurated clay and sandstone, bearing the semblance of towers, 
lastles, churches, and fortified cities. At a distance, it was 
carcely possible to persuade one's self that the works of art were 
lot mingled with these fantastic freaks of nature. They have 
eceived the name of Scott's Bluffs, from a melancholy circum- 
ttance. A number of years since, a party were descending the 
ipper part of the river in oanoes, when their frail barks were 



44 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



overturned and all their powder spoiled. Their rifles being thua 
rendered useless, they were unable to procure food by hunting, 
and had to depend upon roots and wild fruits for subsistence. 
After suffering extremely from hunger, they arrived at Laramie's 
Fork, a small tributary of the north branch of the Nebraska, 
about sixty miles above the cliffs just mentioned. Here one o 
the party, by the name of Scott, was taken ill ; and his compa- 
nions came to a halt, until he should recover health and strength 
sufficient to proceed. While they were searching round in quest 
of edible roots, they discovered a fresh trail of white men, who 
had evidently but recently preceded them. What was to be done ? 
By a forced march they might overtake this party, and thus be 
able to reach the settlements in safety. Should they linger, they 
might all perish of famine and exhaustion. Scott, however, was 
incapable of moving ; they were too feeble to aid him forward, 
and dreaded that such a clog would prevent their coming up with 
the advance party. They determined, therefore, to abandon him 
to his fate. Accordingly, under pretence of seeking food, and 
such simples as might be efficacious in his malady, they deserted 
him and hastened forward upon the trail. They succeeded in 
overtaking the party of which they were in quest, but concealed 
their faithless desertion of Scott ; alleging that he had died of 
disease. 

On the ensuing summer, these very individuals visiting these 
parts in company with others, came suddenly upon the bleached 
bones and grinning skull of a human skeleton, which, by certain 
signs they recognized for the remains of Scott. This was sixty 
long miles from the place where they had abandoned him ; and 
it appeared that the wretched man had crawled that immense 
distance before death put an end to his miseries. The wild and 



THE AHSAHTA. 45 



picturesque bluffs in the neighborhood of his lonely grave have 
ever since borne his name. 

Amidst this wild and striking scenery, Captain Bonneville, 
for the first time, beheld flocks of the ahsahta or bighorn, an ani- 
mal which frequents these cliffs in great numbers. They accord 
with the nature of such scenery, and add much to its romantic 
effect ; bounding like goats from crag to crag, often trooping 
along the lofty shelves of the mountains, under the guidance of 
some venerable patriarch, with horns twisted lower than his muz- 
zle, and sometimes peering over the edge of a precipice, so high 
that they appear scarce bigger than crows ; indeed, it seems a 
pleasure to them to seek the most rugged and frightful situations, 
doubtless from a feeling of security. 

This animal is commonly called the mountain sheep, and is 
often confounded with another animal, the •• woolly sheep," found 
more to the northward, about the country of the Flatheads. The 
latter likewise inhabits cliffs in summer, but descends into the 
valleys in the winter. It has white wool, like a sheep, mingled 
with a thin growth of long hair ; but it has short legs, a deep 
belly, and a beard like a goat. Its horns are about five inches 
long, slightly curved backwards, black as jet, and beautifully 
polished. Its hoofs are of the same color. This animal is by 
no means so active as the bighorn ; it does not bound much, but 
sits a good deal upon its haunches. It is not so plentiful either ; 
rarely more than two or three are seen at a time. Its wool alone 
gives a resemblance to the sheep ; it is more properly of the goat 
genus. The flesh is said to have a musty flavor ; some have 
thought the fleece might be valuable, as it is said to be as fine as 
that of the goat of Cashmere, but it is not to be procured in suf- 
ficient quantities. 



46 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



The ahsahta, argali, or bighorn, on the contrary, has short 
hair like a deer, and resembles it in shape, but has the hiead ami 
horns of a sheep, and its flesh is said to be delicious mutton. 
The Indians consider it more sweet and delicate than any other 
kind of venison. It abounds in the Rocky Mountains, from the 
fiftieth degree of north latitude, quite down to California ; gener- 
ally in the highest regions capable of vegetation ; sometimes it 
ventures into the valleys, but on the least alarm, regains its fa- 
vorite cliffs and precipices, where it is perilous, if not impossible 
for the hunter to follow.* 

* Dimensions of a male of this species, from the nose to the base of the 
tail, five feet ; length of the tail, four inches ; girth of the body, four feet ; 
height, three feet eight inches ; the horn, three feet six inches long ; one foo.* 
three inches in circumference at base. 



AN ALARM. 47 



CHAPTEll IV. 

An alarm. — Crow Indians — their appearance — mode of approach — their 
vengeful errand — their curiosity. — Hostility between the Crows and Black- 
feet. — Loving conduct of the Crows. — Laramie's Fork. — First Navigation 
of the Nebraska. — Great elevation of the country. — Rarity of the atmos- 
phere — its effect on the wood -work of wagons. — Black Hills — their wild 
and broken scenery. — Indian dogs. — Crow trophies. — Sterile and dreary 
country. — Banks of the Sweet Water. — Buffalo hunting. — Adventure of 
Tom Cain, the Irish cook. 

When on the march, Captain Bonneville always sent some of his 
best hunters in the advance to reconnoitre the country, as well 
as to look out for game. On the 24th of May, as the caravan 
was slowly journeying up the banks of the Nebraska, the hunters 
came galloping back, waving their caps, and giving the alarm 
cry, Indians ! Indians ! 

The captain immediately ordered a halt: the hunters now 
came up and announced that a large war-party of Crow Indians 
were just above, on the river. The captain knew the character 
of these savages ; one of the most roving, warlike, crafty, and 
predatory tribes of the mountains ; horse-etealers of the first 
order, and easily provoked to acts of sanguinary violence. Or- 
ders were accordingly given to prepare for action, and every one 
promptly took the post that had been assigned him, in the gene- 
ral order of the march, in all cases of warlike emergency. 



43 BOiNNEVILLES ADVENTURES. 



Every thing being put in battle array, the captain took the 
lead of his little baud, and moved on slowly and warily. In a 
little while he beheld the Crow warriors emerging from among 
the bluffs. There were about sixty of them : fine martial-looking 
fellows, painted and arrayed for war, and mounted on horses 
decked out with all kinds of wild trappings. They came prancing 
along in gallant style, with many wild and dexterous evolutions, 
for none can surpass them in horsemanship ; and their bright 
colors, and Haunting and fantastic embellishments, glaring and 
sparkling in the morning sunshine, gave them really a striking 
appearance. 

Their mode of approach, to one not acquainted with the 
tactics and ceremonies of this rude chivalry of the wilderness, ' 
had an air of direct hostility. They came galloping forward in 
a body, as if about to make a furious charge, but, when close at 
hand, opened to the right and left, and wheeled in wide circles 
round the travellers, whooping and yelling like maniacs. 

This done, their mock fury sank into a calm, and the chief, 
approaching the captain, who had remained warily drawn up, 
though informed of the pacific nature of the manoeuvre, extended 
to him the hand of friendship. The pipe of peace was smoked, 
and now all was good fellowship. 

The Crows were in pursuit of a band of Cheyennes, who had 
attacked their village in the night, and killed one of their people. 
They had already been five and twenty days on the track of the 
marauders, and were determined not to return home until they 
had sated their revenge. 

A few days previously, some of their scouts, who were ranging 
the country at a distance from the main body, had discovered the 
party of Captain Bonneville. They had dogged it for a time in 



INDIAN CURIOSITY. 49 



secret, astonished at the long train of wagons and oxen, and 
especially struck with the sight of a cow and calf, quietly follow- 
ing the caravan ; supposing them to be some kind of tame buffalo. 
Having satisfied their curiosity, they carried back to their chief 
intelligence of all that they had seen. He had, in consequence, 
diverged from his pursuit of vengeance to behold the wonders 
described to him. " Now that we have met you," said he to 
Captain Bonneville, " and have seen these marvels with our own 
eyes, our hearts are glad." In fact, nothing could exceed the 
curiosity evinced by these people as to the objects before them. 
Wagons had never been seen by them before, and they examined 
them with the greatest minuteness ; but the calf was the peculiar 
object of their admiration. They watched it with intense interest 
as it licked the hands accustomed to feed it, and were struck with 
the mild expression of its countenance, and its perfect docility. 

After much sage consultation, they at length determined 
that it must be the " great medicine " of the white party ; an 
appellation given by the Indians to any thing of supernatural 
and mysterious power, that is guarded as a talisman. They 
were completely thrown out in their conjecture, however, by an 
offer of the white men to exchange the calf for a horse ; their 
estimation of the great medicine sank in an instant, and they 
declined the bargain. 

At the request of the Crow chieftain the two parties encamped 
together, and passed the residue of the day in company. The 
captain was well pleased with every opportunity to gain a know- 
ledge of the " unsophisticated sons of nature," who had so long 
been objects of his poetic speculations ; and indeed this wild, 
horse-stealing tribe is one of the most notorious of the moun- 
tains. The chief, of course, had his scalps to show and his 



50 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

battles to recount. The Blackfoot is the hereditary enemy of 
the Crow, towards whom hostility is like a cherished principle of 
religion ; for every tribe, besides its casual antagonists, has some 
enduring foe with whom there can be no permanent reconcilia- 
tion. The Crows and Blackfeet, upon the whole, are enemies 
■worthy of each other, being rogues and ruffians of the first water. 
As their predatory excursions extend over the same regions, they 
often come in contact with each other, and these casual conflicts 
serve to keep their wits awake and their passions alive. 

The present party of Crows, however, evinced nothing of the 
invidious character for which they are renowned. During the 
day and night that they were encamped in company with the 
travellers, their conduct was friendly in the extreme. They 
were, in fact, quite irksome in their attentions, and had a caress- 
ing manner at times quite importunate. It was not until after 
separation on the following morning, that the captain and his 
men ascertained the secret of all this loving-kindness. In the 
course of their fraternal caresses, the Crows had contrived to 
empty the pockets of their white brothers ; to abstract the very 
buttons from their coats, and, above all, to make free with their 
hunting knives. 

By equal altitudes of the sun. taken at this last encampment, 
Captain Bonneville ascertained his latitude to be 41^ 47^ north. 
The thermometer, at six o'clock in the morning, stood at fifty- 
nine degrees ; at two o'clock, P. 31., at ninety-two degrees ; and 
at six o'clock in the evening, at seventy degrees. 

The Black Hills, or Mountains, now began to be seen at a 
distance, printing the horizon with their rugged and broken out- 
lines ; and threatening to oppose a difficult barrier in the way of 
the travellers. 



DRYNESS OF THE ATMOSPHERE. 51 



On the 26th of May, the travellers encamped at Laramie's 
Fork, a clear and beautiful stream, rising in the west-southwest, 
maintaining an average width of twenty yards, and winding 
through broad meadows abounding in currants and gooseberries, 
and adorned with groves and clumps of trees. 

By an observation of Jupiter's satellites, with a Dolland re- 
flecting telescope, Captain Bonneville ascertained the longitude 
to be 102° 57^ west of Greenwich. 

We will here step ahead of our narrative to observe, that 
about three years after the time of which we are treating, Mr, 
Bobert Campbell, formerly of the Bocky Mountain Fur Com- 
pany, descended the Platte from this fork, in skin canoes, thus 
proving, what had always been discredited, that the river was 
navigable. About the same time, he built a fort or trading post 
at Laramie's Fork, which he named Fort William, after his friend 
and partner, Mr. William Sublette. Since that time, the Platte 
has become a highway for the fur traders. 

For some days past, Cnptain Bonneville had been made sen- 
sible of the great elevation of country into which he was gradu- 
ally ascending, by the effect of the dryness and rarefaction of the 
atmosphere upon his wagons. The wood-work shrunk ; the paint 
boxes of the wheels were continually working out, and it was ne- 
cessary to support the spokes by stout props to prevent their fall- 
ing asunder. The travellers were now entering one of those great 
steppes of the Far West, where the prevalent aridity of the atmos- 
phere renders the country unfit for cultivation. In these regions 
there is a fresh sweet growth of grass in the spring, but it is 
scanty and short, and parches up in the course of the summer, 
so that there is none for the hunters to set fire to in the autumn. 
It is a common observation, that " above the forks of the Platte 



52 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



the grass does not burn." All attempts at agriculture and gar- 
dening in the neighborhood of Fort William, have been attended 
with very little success. The grain and vegetables raised there 
have been scanty in quantity and poor in quality. The great ele- 
vation of these plains, and the dryness of the atmosphere, will 
tend to retain these immense regions in a state of pristine 
wildness. 

In the course of a day or two more, the travellers entered 
that wild and broken tract of the Crow country called the Black 
Hills, and here their journey became toilsome in the extreme. 
.Hugged steeps and deep ravines incessantly obstructed their pro- 
gress, so that a great part of the day was spent in the painful 
toil of digging through banks, filling up ravines, forcing the wag- 
ons up the most forbidding ascents, or swinging them with ropes 
down the face of dangerous precipices. The shoes of their horses 
were worn out, and their feet injured by the rugged and stony 
roads. The travellers were annoyed also by frequent but brief 
storms, which would come hurrying over the hills, or through the 
mountain defiles, rage with great fury for a short time, and then 
pass ofi", leaving every thing calm and serene again. 

For several nights the camp had been infested by vagabond 
Indian dogs, prowling about in quest of food. They were about 
the size of a large pointer ; with ears short and erect, and a long 
bushy tail — altogether, they bore a striking resemblance to a 
wolf These skulking visitors would keep about the purlieus of 
the camp until daylight ; when, on the first stir of life among the 
sleepers, they would scamper off until they reached some rising 
ground, where they would take their seats, and keep a sharp and 
hungry watch upon every movement. The moment the travellers 
were fairly on tlie march, and the camp was abandoned, tliese 



CROW TROPHIES. 53 



starveling hangers-on would hasten to the deserted fires, to seize 
upon the half-picked bones, the offals and garbage that lay about ; 
and, having made a hasty meal, with many a snap and snarl and 
growl, would follow leisurely on the trail of the caravan. Many 
attempts were made to coax or catch them, but in vain. Their 
quick and suspicious eyes caught the slightest sinister movement, 
and they turned and scampered off. 4.t length one was taken. 
He was terribly alarmed, and crouched and trembled as if ex- 
pecting instant death. Sootl id, however, by caresses, he began 
after a time to gather confidence and wag his tail, and at length 
was brought to follow close at the heels of his captors, still, how- 
ever, darting around furtive and suspicious glances, and evincing 
a disposition to scamper off upon the least alarm. 

On the first of July the band of Crow warriors again crossed 
their path. They came in vaunting and vainglorious style ; dis- 
j)laying five Cheyenne scalps, the trophies of their vengeance. 
They were now bound homewards, to appease the manes of their 
comrade by these proofs that his death had been revenged, and 
intended to have scalp-dances and other triumphant rejoicings. 
Captain Bonneville and his men, however, were by no means dis- 
posed to renew their confiding intimacy with these crafty savages, 
and above all, took care to avoid their pilfering caresses. They 
remarked one precaution of the Crows with respect to their 
horses ; to protect their hoofs from the sharp and jagged rocks 
among which they had to pass, they had covered them with shoes 
of buffalo hide. 

The route of the travellers lay generally along the course of 
the Nebraska or Platte, but occasionally, where steep promonto- 
ries advanced to the margin of the stream, they were obliged to 
make inland circuits. One of these took them through a bold 



54 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



and stern country, bordered by a range of low mountains, run- 
ning east and west. Every thing around bore traces of some 
fearful convulsion of nature in times long past. Hitherto the 
various strata of rock had exhibited a gentle elevation towards 
the southwest, but here every thing appeared to have been sub- 
verted, and thrown out of place. In many places there were 
heavy beds of white sand*tone resting upon red. Immense strata 
of rocks jutted up into crags and cliifs : and sometimes formed 
perpendicular walls and overliai ging precipices. An air of 
sterility prevailed over these savage wastes. The valleys were 
destitute of herbage, and scantily clothed with a stunted species 
of wormwood, generall}'- known among traders and trappers by 
the name of sage. From an elevated point of their march 
through this region, the travellers caught a beautiful view of the 
Powder Eiver Mountains away to the north, stretching along the 
very verge of the horizon, and seeming, from the snow with 
which they were mantled, to be a chain of small white clouds, 
connecting sky and earth. 

Though the thermometer at mid-day ranged from eighty to 
ninety, and even sometimes rose to ninety-three degrees, yet oc- 
casional spots of snow were to be seen on the tops of the low 
mountains, among which the travellers were journeying ; proofs 
of the great elevation of the whole region 

The Nebraska, in its passage through tue Black Hills, is con- 
fined to a much narrower channel than that through which it 
flows in the plains below ; but it is deeper and clearer, and rushes 
with a stronger current. The scenery, also, is more varied and 
beautiful. Sometimes it glides rapidly but smoothly through a 
picturesque valley, between wooded banks ; then, forcing its way 
into the bosom of rugged mountains, it rushes impetuously 



TOM CAIN THE COOK. 55 



I 



through narrow defiles, roaring and foaming down rocks and 
rapids, until it is again soothed to rest in some peaceful valley. 

On the 12th of July, Captain Bonneville abandoned the 
main stream of the Nebraska, which was continually sliouldered 
by rugged promontories, and making a bend to the southwest, for 
a couple of days, part of the time over plains of loose sand, en- 
camped on the 14tli' on the banks of the Sweet Water, a stream 
about twenty yards in breadth, and four or five feet deep, flowing 
between low banks over a sandy soil, and forming one of the forks 
or upper branches of the Nebraska. Up this stream they now 
shaped their course for several successive days, tending, generally, 
to the west. The soil was light and sandy ; the country much 
diversified. Frequently the plains were studded with isolated 
blocks of rock, sometimes in the shape of a half globe, and from 
three to four hundred feet high. These singular masses had 
occasionally a very imposing, and even sublime appearance, rising 
from the midst of a savage and lonely landscape. 

As the travellers continued to advance, they became more 
and more sensible* of the elevation of the country. The hills 
around were more generally capped with snow. The men com- 
plained of cramps and colics, sore lips and mouths, and violent 
headaches. The wood-work of the wagons also shrank so much, 
that it was with difficulty the wheels were kept from falling to 
pieces. The country bordering upon the river was frequently 
gashed with deep ravines, or traversed by high bluffs, to avoid 
which, the travellers were obliged to make wide circuits through 
the plains. In the course of these, they came upon immense 
zierds of buffalo, which kept scouring off in the van, like a 
retreating army. 

Among the motley retainers of the camp was Tom Cain, a 



56 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



raw Irishman, who officiated as cook, whose various blunders and 
expedients in his novel situation, and in the wild scenes and wild 
kind of life into which he had suddenly been thrown, had made 
him a kind of butt or droll of the camp. Tom, however, began 
to discover an ambition superior to his station ; and the conversa- 
tion of the hunters, and their stories of their exploits, inspired 
him with a desire to elevate himself to the dignity of their order. 
The buffalo in such immense droves presented a tempting oppor- 
tunity for making his first essay. He rode, in the line of march, 
all prepared for action : his powder-flask and shot-pouch know- 
ingly slung at the pommel of his saddle, to be at hand ; his rifle 
balanced on his shoulder. While in this plight, a troop of buffalo 
came trotting by in great alarm. In an instant, Tom sprang 
from his horse and gave chase on foot. Finding they were leav- 
ing him behind, he levelled his rifle and pulled trigger. His 
shot produced no other effect than to increase the speed of the 
buffalo, and to frighten his own horse, who took to his heels, and 
scampered ofi' with all the ammunition. Tom scampered after 
him, hallooing with might and main, and the \vld horse and wild 
Irishman soon disappeared among the ravines of the prairie. 
Captain Bonneville, who was at the head of the line, and had 
seen the transaction at a distance, detached a party in pursuit of 
Tom. After a long interval they returned, leading the frightened 
horse ; but though they had scoured the country, and looked out 
and shouted from every height, they had seen nothing of his 
rider. 

As Captain Bonneville knew Tom's utter awkwardness and 
inexperience, and the dangers of a bewildered Irishman in the 
midst of a prairie, he halted and encamped at an early hour, that 
there might be a regular hunt for him in the morning. 



TOM'S RETURN. 57 



At early dawn on the following day scouts were sent off in 
every direction, while the main body, after breakfast, proceeded 
slowly on its course. It was not until the middle of the after- 
noon that the hunters returned, with honest Tom mounted be- 
hind one of them. They had found him in a complete state of 
perplexity and amazement. His appearance caused shouts of 
merriment in the camp, — but Tom for once could not join in the 
mirth raised at his expense : he was completely chapfallen, and 
apparently cured of the hunting mania for the rest of his life. 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER Y. 

Magnificent scenery. — Wind River Mountains. — Treasury of waters. — A stray 
horse. — An Indian trail. — Trout streams. — The Great Green River valley. 
— An alarm. — A band of trappers. — Fontenelle, his information. — Suffer- 
ings of thirst. — Encampment on the Seeds-ke-dee. — Strategy of rival 
traders. — Fortification of the camp. — The Blackfeet. — Banditti of the 
mountains. — Their character and habits. 

It was on the ^Otli of July, that Captain Bonneville first came 
in sight of the grand region of his hopes and anticipations, the 
Rocky Mountains. He had been making a bend to the south, 
to avoid some obstacles along the river, and had attained a high, 
rocky ridge, when a magnificent prospect burst upon his sight. 
To the west, rose the Wind River Mountains, with their bleached 
and snowy summits towering into the clouds. These stretched 
far to the north-northwest, until they melted away into what ap- 
peared to be faint clouds, but which the experienced eyes of the 
veteran hunters of the party recognized for the rugged moun- 
tains of the Yellowstone ; at the feet of which, extended the 
wild Crow country : a perilous, though profitable region for the 
trapper. 

To the southwest, the eye ranged over an immense extent of 
wilderness, with what appeared to be a snowy vapor resting upon 
its horizon. This, however, was pointed out as another branch 



WIND RIVER MOUNTAINS. 59 



of the G-reat Chippewyan, or Rocky chain ; being the Eutaw 
Mountains, at whose basis, the wandering tribe of hunters of the 
same name pitch their tents. 

We can imagine the enthusiasm of the worthy captain, when 
he beheld the vast and mountainous scene of his adventurous 
enterprise thus suddenly unveiled before him. We can imagine 
with what feelings of awe and admiration he must have contem- 
plated the Wind River Sierra, or bed of mountains ; that great 
fountain-head, from whose springs, and lakes, and melted snows, 
some of ^ those mighty rivers take their rise, which wander over 
hundreds of miles of varied country and clime, and find their 
way to the opposite waves of the Atlantic and the Pacific. 

The Wind River Mountains are, in fact, among the most re- 
markable of the whole Rocky chain ; and would appear to be 
among the loftiest. They form, as it were, a great bed of moun- 
tains, about eighty miles in length, and from twenty to thirty in 
breadth ; with rugged peaks, covered with eternal snows, and 
deep, narrow valleys, full of springs, and brooks, and rock-bound 
lakes. From this great treasury of waters, issue forth limpid 
streams, which, augmenting as they descend, become main tribu- 
taries, of the Missouri on the one side, and the Columbia on the 
other ; and give rise to the Seeds-ke-dee Agie, or Green River, 
the great Colorado of the West, that empties its current into the 
G-ulf of California. 

The Wind River Mountains are notorious in hunters' and 
trappers' stories : their rugged defiles, and the rough tracts about 
their neighborhood, having been lurking places for tlie predatory 
hordes of the mountains, and scenes of rough encounter with 
Crows and Blackfeet. It was to the west of these mountains, 
in the valley of the Seeds-ke-dee Agie, or Green River, that Cap- 



60 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



tain Bonneville intended to make a halt, for the purpose of giving 
repose to his people and his horses, after their weary journeying ; 
and of collecting information as to his future course. This Green 
River valley, and its immediate neighborhood, as we have al- 
ready observed, formed the main point of rendezvous, for the 
present year, of the rival fur companies, and the motley populace 
civilized and savage, connected with them. Several days of rug- 
ged travel, however, yet remained for the captain and his men, 
before they should encamp in this desired resting-place. 

On the 21st of July, as they were pursuing their course 
through one of the meadows of the Sweet Water, they beheld a 
horse grazing at a little distance. He showed no alarm at their 
approach, but suffered himself quietly to be taken, evincing a 
perfect state of lameness. The scouts of the party were instantly 
on the look-out for the owners of this animal ; lest some danger- 
ous band of savages might be lurking in the vicinity. After a 
narrow search, they discovered the trail of an Indian party, 
which had evidently passed through that neighborhood but 
recently. The horse was accordingly taken possession of, as an 
estray ; but a more vigilant watch than usual was kept round 
the camp at nights, lest his former owners should be upon the 
prowl. 

The travellers had now attained so high an elevation, that on 
the 23d of July, at daybreak, there was considerable ice in the 
water-buckets, and the thermometer stood at twenty-two degrees. 
The rarety of the atmosphere continued to affect the wood-work 
of the wagons, and the wheels were incessantly falling to pieces. 
A remedy was at length devised. The tire of each wheel was 
taken off; a ban of wood was nailed round the exterior of the 
felloes, the tire was then made red hot, replaced round the wheel, 



GREEN RIVER VALLEY. 61 



and suddenly cooled with water. By this means, the whole was 
bound together with great compactness. 

The extreme elevation of these great steppes, which range 
along the feet of the Rocky Mountains, take away from the seem- 
ing height of their peaks, which yield to few in the known world 
in point of altitude above the level of the sea. 

On the 24th, the travellers took final leave of the Sweet Wa- 
ter, and keeping westwardly, over a low and very rocky ridge, 
one of the most southern spurs of the Wind River Mountains, 
they encamped, after a march of seven hours and a half, on the 
banks of a small clear stream, running to the south, in which 
they caught a number of fine trout. 

The sight of these fish was hailed with pleasure, as a sign 
that they had reached the waters which flow into the Pacific ; for 
it is only on the western streams of the Rocky Mountains that 
trout are to be taken. The stream on which they had thus en- 
camped, proved, in effect, to be tributary to the Seeds-ke-dee 
Agie, or G-reen River, into which it flowed, at some distance to 
the south. 

Captain Bonneville now considered himself as having fairly 
passed the crest of the Rocky Mountains ; and felt some degree 
of exultation in being the first individual that had crossed, north 
of the settled provinces of Mexico, from the waters of the Atlan- 
tic to those of the Pacific, with wagons. Mr. William Sublette, 
the enterprising leader of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, 
had, two or three years previously, reached the valley of the 
Wind River, which lies on the northeast of the mountains ; but 
had proceeded with them no further. 

A vast valley now spread itself before the travellers, bounded 
on one side by the Wind River Mountains, and to the west, by a 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



long range of high hills. This, Captain Bonneville was assured 
by a veteran hunter in his company, was the great valley of the 
Seeds-ke-dee ; and the same informant would fain have persuaded 
him, that a small stream, three feet deep, which he came to on 
the 25th, was that river. The captain was convinced, however, 
that the stream was too insignificant to drain so wide a valley, 
and the adjacent mountains : he encamped, therefore, at an early 
hour, on its borders, that he might take the whole of the next 
day to reach the main river ; which he presumed to flow between 
him and the distant range of western hills. 

On the 26tli of July, he commenced his march at an early 
hour, making directly across the valley, towards the hills in the 
west ; proceeding at as brisk a rate as the jaded condition of his 
horses would permit. About eleven o'clock in the morning, a 
great cloud of dust was descried in the rear, advancing directly 
on the trail of the party. The alarm was given ; they all came 
to a halt, and held a council of war. Some conjectured that the 
band of Indians, whose trail they had discovered in the neighbor- 
hood of the stray hotse, had been lying in wait for them, in some 
secret fastness of the mountains ; and were about to attack them 
on the open plain, where they would have no shelter. Prepara- 
tions were immediately made for defence ; and a scouting party 
sent oif to reconnoitre. They soon came galloping back, making 
signals that all was well. The cloud of dust was made by a band 
of fifty or sixty mounted trappers, belonging to the American 
Fur Company, who soon came up, leading their pack-horses. 
They were headed by Mr. Fontenelle, an experienced leader, or 
".partisan," as a chief of a party is called, in the technical lan- 
guage of the trappers. 

Mr. Fontenelle informed Captain Bonneville, that he wa» on 



FONTENELLE AND HIS PARTY. 



his way from the company's trading post on the Yellowstone, to 
the yearly rendezvous, with reinforcements and supplies for their 
hunting and trading parties beyond the mountains ; and that he 
expected to meet, by appointment, with a band of free trappers 
in that very neighborhood. He had fallen upon the trail of 
Captain Bonneville's party, just after leaving the Nebraska ; 
and, finding that they had frightened off all the game, had been 
obliged to push on, by forced marches, to avoid famine : both 
men and horses were, therefore, much travel-worn ; but this was 
no place to halt ; the plain before them, he said, was destitute of 
grass and water, neither of which would be met with short of 
the Green River, which was yet at a considerable distance. He 
hoped, he added, as his party were all on horseback, to reach 
the river, with hard travelling, by nightfall : but he doubted the 
possibility of Captain Bonneville's arrival there with his wagons 
before the day following. Having imparted this information, he 
pushed forward with all speed. 

Captain Bonneville followed on as fast as circumstances 
would permit. The ground was firm and gravelly - but the 
horses were too much fatigued to move rapidly. After a long 
and harassing day's march, without pausing for a noontide meal, 
they were compelled, at nme o'clock at night, to encamp in an 
open plain, destitute of water or pasturage. On the following 
morning, the horses were turned loose at the peep of day ; to 
slake their thirst, if possible, from the dew collected on the 
sparse grass, here and there springing up among dry sand-banks. 
The soil of a great part of this Green River valley is a whitish 
clay, into which the rain cannot penetrate, but which dries and 
cracks with the sun. In some places it produces a salt weed, 
and grass along the margins of the streams ; but the wider 



(;4 BONA'EVlLLb:-S ADVENTURES. 



expanses of it are desolate and barreu. It was not uutil uoou 
that Captain Bonneville reaelied the banks of the Seeds-ke-dee, 
or Colorado of the West ; in the meantime, the sufferings of both 
men and horses had been exeessive. and it was with almost fran- 
tic eagerness that they hurried to allay their burning thirst in 
the limpid eurrent of the river. 

Fontenelle and his party had not fared mueh better ; the 
chief part had managed to reaeh the river by nightfall, but were 
nearly knocked up by the exertion; the horses of others sank 
under them, and they were obliged to pass the night upon the 
road. 

On the following morning, July *27th, Fontenelle moved his 
camp across the river ; while Captain Bonneville proceeded some 
little distance below, where there was a small but fresh meadow, 
yielding abundant pasturage. Here the poor jaded horses were 
turned out to graze, and take their rest : the weary journey 
up the mountains had worn them down in flesh and spirit ; but 
this last march across tlie tliirsty plain had nearly finished 
them. 

The captain had here the first taste of the boasted strategy 
of the fur trade. During his brief, but social encampment, in 
company with Fontenelle, that experienced trapper had managed 
to win over a number of Delaware Indians whom the captain 
had brought with him. by ofteriug them four hundred dollars 
each, for the ensuing autumnal hunt. The captain was some- 
what astonished when he saw these hunters, on whose services he 
had calculated securely, suddenly pack up their traps, and go 
over to the rival camp. That he might in some measure, how- 
ever, be even with his competitor, he dispatched two scouts to 
look out for the band of free trappers who were to meet Fonte- 



BLACKFEET INDIANS. 65 



nelle in this Deiglibojlioodj and to endeavor to bring them to 
his camp. 

As it would be necessary to remain some time in this neigh- 
borhood, that both men and horses might repose, and recruit 
their strength ; and as it was a region full of danger, Captain 
Bonneville proceeded to fortify his camp with breastworks of logs 
and pickets. 

These precautions were, at that time, peculiarly necessary, 
from the bands of Blackfeet Indians which were roving about the 
neighborhood. These savages are the most dangerous banditti 
of the mountains, and the inveterate foe of the trappers. They 
are Ishmaelites of the first order ; always with weapon in hand, 
ready for action. The young braves of the tribe, who are desti- 
tute of property, go to war for booty ; to gain horses, and acquire 
the means of setting up a lodge, supporting a family, and enti- 
tling themselves to a seat in the public councils. The veteran 
warriors fight merely for the love of the thing, and the conse- 
quence which success gives them among their people. 

They are capital horsemen, and are generally well mounted 
on short, stout horses, similar to the prairie ponies, to be met with 
at St. Louis. AYhen on a war party, however, they go on foot, 
to enable them to skulk through the country with greater secrecy ; 
to keep in thickets and ravines, and use more adroit subterfuges 
and stratagems. Their mode of warfare is entirely by ambush, 
surprise, and sudden assaults in the night time. If they succeed 
in causing a panic, they dash forward with headlong fury : if the 
enemy is on the alert, and shows no signs of fear, they become 
wary and deliberate in their movements. 

Some of them are armed in the primitive style, with bows 
and arrows ; the greater part have American fusees, made after 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



the fashion of those of the Hudson's Bay Company. These they 
procure at the trading post of the American Fur Company, on 
Marias River, •where they traffic their peltries for arms, ammuni- 
tion, clothing, and trinkets. They are extremely fond of spirit- 
uous liquors and tobacco ; for which nuisances they are ready to 
exchange, not merely their guns and horses, but even their wives 
and daughters. As they are a treacherous race, and have cher- 
ished a lurking hostility to the whites, ever since one of their 
tribe was killed by Mr. Lewis, the associate of General Clarke, 
in his exploring expedition across the Rocky Mountains, the 
American Fur Company is obliged constantly to keep at that 
post a garrison of sixty or seventy men. 

Under the general name of Blackfeet. are comprehended 
several tribes : such as the Surcies. the Peagans. the Blood In- 
dians, and the Cros Ventres of the Prairies : who roam about 
the southern branches of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, 
together with some other tribes further north. 

The bands infesting the Wind River Mountains, and the 
country adjacent, at the time of which we are treating, were Gros 
Yentres of the Frairies, which are not to be confounded with 
Gros Yentres of the ^lissouri. who keep about the lourr part of 
that river, and are friendly to the -white men. 

This hostile band keeps about the head waters of the Mis- 
souri, and numbers about nine hundred fighting men. Once in 
the course of two or three years they abandon their usual abodes, 
and make a visit to the Arapahoes of the Arkansas. Their 
route lies either through the Crow country, and the Black Hills. 
or through the lands of the Xez Perces. Flatheads. Bannacks. 
and Shoshonies. As they enjoy their favorite state of hostility 
with all these tribes, their expeditions are prone to be conducted 






BLACKFEET INDJANS. 67 



in the most lawless and predatory style ; nor do they hesitate to 
extend their maraudings to any party of white men they meet 
with ; following their trails ; hovering about their camps ; waj'-- 
laying and dogging the caravans of the free traders, and murder- 
ing the solitary trapper. The consequences are, frequent and 
desperate fights between them and the '• mountaineers." in the 
wild defiles and fastnesses of the Rocky Mountains. 

The band in question was. at this time, on their way home- 
ward from one of their customary yisits to the Arapahoes ; and 
in the ensuing chapter, we shall treat of some bloodj^ encounters 
between them and the trappers, which had taken place just before 
the arrival of Captain Bonneville among the mountains. 



68 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Sublette and his band. — Robert Campbell. — Mr. Wyeth and a band of 
'• down-easters." — Yankee enterprise. — Fitzpatrick — ^his adventure with 
the Blackfeet. — A rendezvous of mountaineers. — The battle of Pierre's 
Hole. — An Indian Ambuscade. — Sublette's return. 

Leaving Captain Bonneville and bis band ensconced witbin tbeir 
fortified camp in tbe Green River valley, we sball step back and 
acoompauy a party of tbe Rocky Mountain Fur Company in its 
progress, witb supplies from St. Louis, to tbe annual rendezvous 
at Pierre's Hole. Tbis party consisted of sixty men. well 
mounted, and conducting a line of pack-borses. Tbey were com- 
manded by Captain William Sublette, a partner in tbe company, 
and one of tbe most active, intrepid, and renowned leaders in 
tbis balf military kind of service. He was accompanied by bis 
associate in business, and tried companion in danger. Mr. Robert 
Campbell, one of tbe pioneers of tbe trade beyond tbe mountains, 
wbo bad commanded trapping parties tbere in times of tbe 
greatest peril. 

As these wortby compeers were on tbeir route to tbe frontier, 
they fell in witb anotber expedition, likewise on its way to the 
mountains. Tbis was a party of regular ** down-easters." that is 
to say, people of New England, wbo. witb tbe all-penetrating, 
and all-perv;iding spirit of their race, were now pusbing tbeir 



YANKCE ENTERPRISE. 69 

way into a new field of enterprise, with which they were totally 
uuaequaiuted. The party had been fitted out. and was main- 
tained and commanded by Mr. Xathaniel J. Wyeth, of Boston.* 
This gentleman had conceived an idea, that a profitable fishery 
for salmon might be establishsd on the Columbia River, and con- 
nected with the fur trade. He had. accordingly, invested capital 
in goods, calculated, as he supposed, for the Indian trade, and 
had enlisted a number of eastern men in his employ, who had 
never been in the Far West, nor knew an}- thing of the wilder- 
ness. With these, he was bravely steering his way across the 
continent, undismayed by danger, difficulty, or distance, in the 
same way that a New England coaster and his neighbors will 
coolly launch forth on a voyage to the Black Sea. or a whaling 
cruise to the Pacific. 

With all their national aptitude at expedient and resource, 
Wyeth and his men felt themselves completely at a loss when 
they reached the frontier, and found that the wilderness required 
experience and Ixibitudes. of which they were totally deficient. 
Xot one of the party, excepting the leader, had ever seen an In- 
dian or handled a rifle : they were without guide or interpreter, 
and totall}- unacquainted with ''wood craft," and the modes of 
making their way among savage hordes, and subsisting them- 
selves, during long marches over wild mountains and barren 
plains. 

In this predicament. Captain Sublette found them, in a man- 
ner becalmed, or rather run aground, at the little frontier town 
of Independence, in ^Missouri, and kindly took them in tow. 

* In the former editions of this work we have erroneously given tliis enter- 
prising individual the title of captain. 



70 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



The two parties travelled amicably together : the frontier men of 
Sublettes party gave their Yankee comrades some lessons in 
hunting, and some insight into the art and mystery of dealing 
with the Indians, and they all arrived without accident at the 
upper branches of the Nebraska or Platte River. 

In the course of their march, Mr. Fitzpatrick. the partner of 
the company who was resident at that time beyond the mountains, 
came down from the rendezvous at Pierre's Hole to meet them. 
and hurry them forward. He travelled in company with them 
until they reached the Sweet AVater : then taking a couple of 
horses, one for the saddle, and the other as a pack-horse, he 
started off express for Pierre's Hole, to make arrangements 
against their arrival, that he might commence his hunting cam- 
paign before the rival company. 

Fitzpatrick was a hardy and experienced mountaineer, and 
knew all the passes and detiles. As he was pursuing his lonely 
course up the Green River valley, he descried several horsemen 
at a distance, and came to a halt to reconnoitre. He supposed 
them to be some detachment from the rendezvous, or a party of 
friendly Indians. They perceived him. and setting up the war- 
whoop, dashed forward at full speed : he saw at once his mistake 
and his peril — they were Blackfeet. Springing upon his fleetest 
horse, and abandoning the other to the enemy, he made for the 
mountains, and succeeded in escaping up one of the most danger- 
ous defiles. Here he concealed himself until he thought the 
Indians had gone off, when he returned into the valley. He was 
again pursued, lost his remaining horse, and only escaped by 
scrambling up among the cliffs. For several days he remained 
lurking among rocks and precipices, and almost famished, having 
but one remaining charge in his rifle, which he kept for self-defence. 



THE BLACKFEI-rr INDIANS. 71 



In tlie meantime, Sublette and Campbell, witli their fellow- 
traveller, Wyetli, had pursued their march unmolested, and 
arrived in the Green River valley, totally unconscious that there 
was any lurking enemy at hand. They had encamped one night 
on the banks of a small stream, v/hich came down from the Wind 
liiver Mountains, when about midnight, a band of Indians burst 
upon their camp, with horrible yells and whoops, and a discharge 
of guns and arrows. Happily no other harm was done than 
wounding one mule, and causing several horses to break loose 
from their pickets. The camp was instantly in arms ; but the 
Indians retreated with yells of exultation, carrying off several of 
the horses, under covert of the night. 

This was somewhat of a disagreeable foretaste of mountain 
life to some of Wyetli's band, accustomed only to the regular and 
peaceful life of New England ; nor was it altogether to the taste 
of Captain Sublette's men, who were chiefly Creoles and towns- 
men from St. Louis. They continued their march the next 
morning, keeping scouts ahead and upon their flanks, and arrived 
without further molestation at Pierre's Hole. 

The first inquiry of Captain Sublette, on reaching the rendez- 
vous, was for Fitzpatrick. He had not arrived, nor had any in- 
telligence been received concerning him. Great uneasiness was 
now entertained, lest he should have fallen into the hands of the 
Blackfeet, who had made the midnight attack upon the camp. It 
was a matter of general joy, therefore, when he made his appear- 
ance, conducted by two half-breed Iroquois hunters. He had 
lurked for several days among the mountains, until almost 
starved ; at length he escaped the vigilance of his enemies in 
the night, and was so fortunate as to meet the two Iroquois hunt- 
ers, who, being on horseback, conveyed him without further diffi- 



72 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

culty to the rendezvous. He arrived there so emaciated, that he 
could scarcely be recognized. 

The valley called Pierre's Hole, is about thirty miles in 
length and fifteen in width, bounded to the west and south by 
low and broken ridges, and overlooked to the east by three lofty 
mountains, called the three Tetons, which domineer as landmarks 
over a vast extent of country. 

A fine stream, fed by rivulets and mountain springs, pours 
through the valley towards the north, dividing it into nearly 
equal parts. The meadows on its borders are broad and exten- 
sive, covered with willow and cotton-wood trees, so closely inter- 
locked and matted together, as to be nearly impassable. 

In this valley was congregated the motley populace connected 
with the fur trade. Here the two rival companies had their en- 
campments, with their retainers of all kinds : traders, trappers, 
hunters, and half-breeds, assembled from all quarters, awaiting 
their yearly supplies, and their orders to start off in new direc- 
tions. Here, also, the savage tribes connected with the trade, the 
Nez Perces or Chopunnish Indians, and Flatheads, had pitched 
their lodges beside the streams, and with their squaws, awaited 
the distribution of goods and finery. There was, moreover, a 
band of fifteen free trappers, commanded by a gallant leader 
from Arkansas, named Sinclair, who held their encampment a 
little apart from the rest. Such was the wild and heterogeneous 
assemblage, amounting to several hundred men, civilized and 
savage, distributed in tents and lodges in the several camps. 

The arrival of Captain Sublette with supplies put the Rocky 
Mountain Fur Company in full activity. The wares and mer- 
chandise were quickly opened, and as quickly disposed of to 
trappers and Indians ; the usual excitement and revelry took 



ENCOUNTER WITH THE BLACKFEET. 73 



place, after which, all hands began to disperse to their several 
destinations. 

On the 17th of July, a small brigade of fourteen trappers, 
led by Milton Sublette, brother of the captain, set out with the 
intention of proceeding to the southwest. They were accompa- 
nied by Sinclair and his fifteen free trappers ; Wyeth, also, and 
his New England band of beaver hunters and salmon fishers, 
now dwindled down to eleven, took this opportunity to prosecute 
their cruise in the wilderness, accompanied with such experi- 
enced pilots. On the first day, they proceeded about eight miles 
to the southeast, and encamped for the night, still in the valley 
of Pierre's Hole. On the following morning, just as they were 
raising their camp, they observed a long line of people pouring 
down a defile of the mountains. They at first supposed them 
to be Fontenelle and his party, whose arrival had been daily 
expected. Wyeth, however, reconnoitred them with a spy-glass, 
and soon perceived they were Indians. They were divided into 
two parties, forming, in the whole, about one hundred and fifty 
persons, men, women, and children. Some were on horseback, 
fantastically painted and arrayed, with scarlet blankets fluttering 
in the wind. The greater part, however, were on foot. They 
had perceived the trappers before they were themselves discov- 
ered, and came down yelling and whooping into the plain. On 
nearer approach, they were ascertained to be Blackfeet. 

One of the trappers of Sublette's brigade, a half-breed, named 
Antoine Godin, now mounted his horse, and rode forth as if to 
hold a conference. He was the son of an Iroquois hunter, who 
had been cruelly murdered by the Blackfeet at a small stream 
below the mountains, which still bears his name. In company 
with Antoine rode forth a Flathead Indian, whose once powerful 

4 



74 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

tribe had been completely broken down in their wars with the 
Blackfeet. Both of them, therefore, cherished the most vengeful 
hostility against these marauders of the mountains. The Black- 
feet came to a halt. One of the chiefs advanced singly and 
unarmed, bearing the pipe of peace. This overture was certainly 
pacific ; but Antoine and the Flathead were predisposed to hos- 
tility, and pretended to consider it a treacherous movement. 

" Is your piece charged ?" said Antoine to his red companion. 

«Itis." 

" Then cock it, and follow me." 

They met the Blackfoot chief half way, who extended his 
hand in friendship. xVntoine grasped it. 

'• Fire !" cried he. 

The Flathead levelled his piece, and brought the Blackfoot 
to the ground. Antoine snatched off his scarlet blanket, which 
was richly ornamented, and galloped off with it as a trophy to 
the camp, the bullets of the enemy whistling after him. The 
Indians immediately threw themselves into the edge of a swamp, 
among willows and cotton-wood trees, interwoven with vines. 
Here they began to fortify themselves ; the women digging a 
trench, and throwing up a breastwork of logs and branches, deep 
hid in the bosom of the wood, while the warriors skirmished at 
the edge to keep the trappers at bay. 

The latter took their station in a ravine in front, whence they 
kept up a scattering fire. As to Wyeth, and his little band of 
" down-easters."' they were perfectly astounded by this second 
specimen of life in the wilderness : the men, being especially 
unused to bush-fighting and the use of the rifle, were at a loss 
how to proceed. "Wyeth, however, acted as a skilful commander. 
He got all his horses into camp and secured them ; then, making 



AN ALARM— A TURN OUT. 75 



a breastwork of his packs of goods, he charged his men to remain 
in garrison, and not to stir out of their fort. For himself, he 
mingled with the other leaders, determined to take his share in 
the conflict. 

In the meantime, an express had been sent oflF to the rendez- 
vous for reinforcements. Captain Sublette, and his associate, 
Campbell, were at their camp when the express came galloping 
across the plain, waving his cap, and giving the alarm ; " Black- 
feet ! Blackfeet ! a fight in the upper part of the valley ! — to 
arms ! to arms !" 

The alarm was passed from camp to camp. It was a common 
cause. Every one turned out with horse and rifle. The Nez 
Perces and Flatheads joined. As fast as horseman could arm 
and mount he galloped off; the valley was soon alive with white 
men and red men scouring at full speed. 

Sublette ordered his men to keep to the camp, being recruits 
from St. Louis, and unused to Indian warfare. He and his 
friend Campbell prepared for action. Throwing off their coats, 
rolling up their sleeves, and arming themselves with pistols and 
rifles, they mounted their horses and dashed forward among the 
first. As they rode along, they made their wills in soldier-like 
style ; each stating how his effects should be disposed of in case 
of his death, and appointing the other his executor. 

The Blackfeet warriors had supposed the brigade of Milton 
Sublette all the foe they had to deal Avith, and were astonished 
to behold the whole valley suddenly swarming with horsemen, 
galloping to the field of action. They withdrew into their fort, 
which was completely hid from sight in the dark and tangled 
wood. Most of their women and children had retreated to the 
mountains. The trappers now sallied forth and approached the 



76 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



swamp, firing into the thickets at random ; the Blackfeet had a 
better sight at their adversaries, who were in the open field, and 
a half-breed was wounded in the shoulder. 

When Captain Sublette arrived, he urged to penetrate the 
swamp and storm the fort, but all hung back in awe of the dismal 
horrors of the place, and the danger of attacking such despera- 
does in their savage den. The very Indian allies, though accus- 
tomed to bush-fighting, regarded it as almost impenetrable, and 
full of frightful danger. Sublette was not to be turned from his 
purpose, but offered to lead the way into the swamp. Campbell 
stepped forward to accompany him. Before entering the peril- 
ous wood, Sublette took his brothers aside, and told them that 
in case he fell, Campbell, who knew his will, was to be his execu- 
tor. This done, he grasped his rifle and pushed into the thickets, 
followed by Campbell. Sinclair, the partisan from Arkansas, 
was at the edge of the wood with his brother and a few of his 
men. Excited by the gallant example of the two friends, he 
pressed forward to share their dangers. 

The swamp was produced by the labors of the beaver, which, 
by damming up a stream, had inundated a portion of the valley. 
The place was all overgrown with woods and thickets, so closely 
matted and entangled, that it was impossible to see ten paces 
ahead, and the three associates in peril had to crawl along, one 
after another, making their way by putting the branches and 
vines aside ; but doing it with caution, lest they should attract 
the eye of some lurking marksman. They took the lead by turns, 
each advancing about twenty yards at a time, and now and then 
hallooing to their men to follow. Some of the latter gradually 
entered the swamp, and followed a little distance in their rear. 

They had now reached a more open part of the wood, and 



CROSS-FIRING. 77 



had glimpses of the rude fortress from between the trees. It 
was a mere breastwork, as we have said, of logs and branches, 
with blankets, buffalo robes, and the leathern covers of lodges, 
extended round the top as a screen. The movements of the 
leaders, as they groped their way, had been descried by the 
sharp-sighted enemy. As Sinclair, who was in the advance, was 
putting some branches aside, he was shot through the body. He 
fell on the spot. " Take me to my brother," said he to Camp- 
bell. The latter gave him in charge to some of the men, who 
conveyed him out of the swamp. 

Sublette now took the advance. As he was reconnoitring 
the fort, he perceived an Indian peeping through an aperture. 
In an instant his rifle was levelled and discharged, and the ball 
struck the savage in the eye. While he was reloading, he called 
to Campbell, and pointed out to him the hole ; " Watch that 
place," said he, " and you will soon have a fair chance for a shot." 
Scarce had he uttered the words, when a ball struck him in the 
shoulder, and almost wheeled him round. His first thought was 
to take hold of his arm with his other hand, and move it up and 
down. He ascertained, to his satisfaction, that the bone was not 
broken. The next moment he was so faint that he could not 
stand. Campbell took him in his arms and carried him out of 
the thicket. The same shot that struck Sublette, wounded an- 
other man in the head. 

A brisk fire was now opened by the mountaineers from the 
wood, answered occasionally from the fort. Unluckily, the trap- 
pers and their allies, in searching for the fort, had got scattered, 
so that Wyeth, and a number of Nez Perces, approached the 
fort on the northwest side, while others did the same on the 
opposite quarter. A cross-fire thus took place, which occasion- 



78 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



ally ^1k1 uiischiof to tVioiuls as woU as foes. An Indian was shot 
down, close to Wyeth. by a ball wliii-li. ho was convinced, had 
been sped from tlie rifle of a trapper on the other side of the 
fort. 

The number of wliites and tlieir Indian allies, had by this 
time so much increased by arrivals from the rendezvous, that the 
Blackfeet were completely overmatched. They kept doggedly in 
their fort, however, making no offer of surrender. An occasional 
tiring into the breastwork was kept up during the day. Now 
and then, one of the Indian allies, in bravado, would rush up to 
the fort, tire over the ramparts, tear off' a buffalo robe or a scar- 
let blanket, and return with it in triumph to his comrades. Most 
of the savage garrison that fell, however, were killed in the lirst 
part of the attack. 

At one time it was resolved to set tire to the fort ; and the 
squaws belonging to the allies were employed to collect combus- 
tibles. This, however, was abandoned ; the Nez Perces being 
unwilling to destroy the robes and blankets, and other spoils of 
the euemy. which they felt sure would tall into their hands. 

The Indians, when fighting, are prone to taunt and revile 
each other. Puring one of the pauses of the battle, the voice of 
the l^lackfeet chief was heard. 

'•• 80 long." said he. - as wc had powder and ball, we fought 
you in the open field : when those were spent, we retreated here 
to die with our women and children. You nuiy burn us in our 
fort ; but. stay by our ashes, and you who are so hungry for fight- 
ing, will soon have enough. There are four hundred lodges of 
our brethren at hand. They will soon be here — their arms are 
strong — their hearts are big — they will avenge us !'' 

This speech was translated two or three times by Nez Perce 

• 



KILLED AND WOUNDED. 79 



and Creole interpreters. By the time it was rendered into En- 
glish, the chief was made to say, that four hundred lodges of his 
tribe were attacking the encampment at the other end of the 
valley. Every one now was for hurrying to the defence of the 
rendezvous. A party was left to keep watch upon the fort : the 
rest galloped off to the camp. As night came on, the trappers 
drew out of the swamp, and remained about the skirts of the 
wood. By morning, their companions returned from the rendez- 
vous, with the report that all was safe. As the day opened, they 
ventured within the swamp and approached the fort. All was 
silent. They advanced up to it without opposition. They en- 
tered : it had been abandoned in the night, and the Blackfeet 
had effected their retreat, carrying off their wounded on litters 
made of branches, leaving bloody traces on the herbage. The 
bodies of ten Indians were found within the fort ; among them 
the one shot in the eye by Sublette. Tlie Blackfeet afterwards 
reported that they had lost twenty-six warriors in this battle. 
Thirty-two horses were likewise found killed ; among them were 
some of those recently carried off from Sublette's party, in the 
night ; which showed that these were the very savages that had 
attacked him. They proved to be an advance party of the main 
body of Blackfeet, which had" been upon the trail of Sublette's 
party. Five white men and one half-breed were killed, and several 
wounded. Seven of the Nez Percys were also killed, and six 
wounded. They had an old chief, who was reputed as invulner- 
able. In the course of the action he was hit by a spent ball, 
and threw up blood ; but his skin was unbroken. His people were 
xiow fully convinced that he was proof against powder and ball. 
A striking circumstance is related as having occurred the 
morning after the battle. As some of the trappers and their In- 



80 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



dian allies were approaching the fort, through the woods, they 
beheld an Indian woman, of noble form and features, leaning 
against a tree. Their surprise at her lingering here alone, to fall 
into the hands of her enemies, was dispelled, when they saw the 
corpse of a warrior at her feet. Either she was so lost in grief, 
as not to perceive their approach ; or a proud spirit kept her 
silent and motionless. The Indians set up a yell, on discovering 
her, and before the trappers could interfere, her mangled body 
fell upon the corpse which she had refused to abandon. We 
have heard this anecdote discredited by one of the leaders who 
had been in the battle : but the fact may have taken place with- 
out his seeing it, and been concealed from him. It is an instance 
of female devotion, even to the death, which we are well disposed 
to believe and to record. 

After the battle, the brigade of Milton Sublette, together 
with the free trappers, and Wyeth's New England band, re- 
mained some days at the rendezvous, to see if the main body 
of Blackfeet intended to make an attack ; nothing of the kind 
occurring, they once more put themselves in motion, and pro- 
ceeded on their route towards the southwest. 

Captain Sublette having distributed his supplies, had intended 
to set off on his return to St. Louis, taking with him the peltries 
collected from the trappers and Indians. His wound, however, 
obliged him to postpone his departure. Several who were to 
have accompanied him, became impatient of this delay. Among 
these was a young Bostonian, Mr. Joseph More, one of the fol- 
lowers of Mr. Wyeth, who had seen enough of mountain life and 
savage warfare, and was eager to return to the abodes of civiliza- 
tion. He and six others, among whom were a Mr. Foy, of Mis- 
sis^ppi, Mr. Alfred K. Stephens, of St. Louis, and two grand- 



SUBLETTE'S CARAVAN. 81 



sons of the celebrated Daniel Boon, set out together, in advance 
of Sublette's party, thinking they would make their own way 
through the mountains. 

It was just five days after the battle of the swamp, that these 
seven companions were making their way through Jackson's Hole, 
a valley not far from the three Tetons, when, as they were de- 
scending a hill, a party of Blackfeet that lay in ambush, started 
up with terrific yells. The horse of the young Bostonian, who 
was in front, wheeled round with afi'right, and threw his unskilful 
rider. The young man scrambled up the side of the hill, but, 
unaccustomed to such wild scenes, lost his presence of mind, and 
stood, as if paralyzed, on the edge of a bank, until the Blackfeet 
came up and slew him on the spot. His comrades had fled on 
the first alarm ; but two of them, Foy and Stephens, seeing his 
danger, paused when they had got half way up the hill, turned 
back, dismounted, and hastened to his assistance. Foy was 
instantly killed. Stephens was severely wounded, but escaped, 
to die five days afterwards. The survivors returned to the camp 
of Captain Sublette, bringing tidings of this new disaster. That 
hardy leader, as soon as he could bear the journey, set out on his 
return to St. Louis, accompanied by Campbell. As they had a 
number of pack-horses richly laden with peltries to convoy, they 
chose a diiferent route through the mountains, out of the way, 
as they hoped, of the lurking bands of Blackfeet. They suc- 
ceeded in making the frontier in safety. We remember to have 
seen them with their band, about two or three months afterwards, 
passing through a skirt of woodland in the upper part of Mis- 
souri. Their long cavalcade stretched in single file for nearly 
half a mile. Sublette still wore his arm in a sling. The moun- 
taineers in their rude hunting dresses, armed with rifles, and 

4# 



82 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



roughly mounted, and leading their pack-horses down a hill of the • 

forest, looked like banditti returning with plunder. On the top j 

of some of the packs were perched several half-breed children, 
perfect little imps, with wild black eyes glaring from among elf 
locks. These, I was told, were children of the trappers : pledges 
of love from their squaw spouses in the wilderness. 



RETREAT OF THE BLACKFEET. 83 



CHAPTER YII. 

Retreat of the Blackfeet. — Fontenelle's camp in danger. — Captain Bonneville 
and the Blackfeet. — Free trappers — their character, habits, dress, equip- 
ments,~horses. — Game fellows of the mountains — their visit to the camp. — 
Good fellov^^ship and good cheer. — A carouse. — A swagger, a brawl, and a 
reconciliation. 

The Blackfeet warriors, when they effected their midnight retreat 
from their wild fastness in Pierre's Hole, fell back into the valley 
of the Seeds-ke-dee, or Grreen River, where they joined the main 
body of their band. The whole force amounted to several hun- 
dred fighting men, gloomy and exasperated by their late disaster. 
They had with them their wives and children, which incajDacitated 
them for any bold and extensive enterprise of a warlike nature ; 
but when, in the course of their wanderings, they came in sight 
of the encampment of Fontenelle, who had moved some distance 
up Grreen River valley in search of the free trappers, they put 
up tremendous war-cries, and advanced fiercely as if to attack it. 
Second thoughts caused them to moderate their fury. They 
recollected the severe lesson just received, and could not but 
remark the strength of Fontenelle's position ; which had been 
chosen with great judgment. 

A formal talk ensued. The Blackfeet said nothing of the 
late battle, of which Fontenelle had as yet received no accounts ; 



84 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



the latter, however, knew the hostile and perfidious nature of 
these savages, and took care to inform them of the encampment 
of Captain Bonneville, that they might know there were more 
white men in the neighborhood. 

The conference ended, Fontenelle sent a Delaware Indian of 
his party to conduct fifteen of the Blackfeet to the camp of Cap- 
tain Bonneville. There was at that time two Crow Indians in 
the captain's camp, who had recently arrived there. They looked 
with dismay at this deputation from their implacable enemies, 
and gave the captain a terrible character of them, assuring him 
that the best thing he could possibly do, was to put those Black- 
feet deputies to death on the spot. The captain, however, who 
had heard nothing of the conflict at Pierre's Hole, declined all 
compliance with this sage counsel. He treated the grim warriors 
with his usual urbanity. They passed some little time at the 
camp ; saw, no doubt, that every thing was conducted with mili- 
tary skill and vigilance ; and that such an enemy was not to be 
easily surprised, nor to be molested with impunity, and then de- 
parted, to report all that they had seen to their comrades. 

The two scouts which Captain Bonneville had sent out to seek 
for the band of free trappers, expected by Fontenelle, and to 
invite them to his camp, had been successful in their search, and 
on the 12th of August those worthies made their appearance. 

To explain the meaning of the appellation, free trapper, it is 
necessary to state the terms on which the men enlist in the ser- 
vice of the fur companies. Some have regular wages, and are 
furnished with weapons, horses, traps, and other requisites. 
These are under command, and bound to do every duty required 
of them connected with the service ; such as hunting, trapping, 
loading and unloading the horses, mounting guard ; and, in 



THE TRAPPERS. 86 



short, all the drudgery of the camp. These are the hired 
trappers. 

The free trappers are a more independent class ; and in de- 
scribing them, we shall do little more than transcribe the graphic 
description of them by Captain Bonneville. " They come and 
go," says he, " when and where they please ; provide their own 
horses, arms, and other equipments ; trap and trade on their own 
account, and dispose of their skins and peltries to the highest 
bidder. Sometimes, in a dangerous hunting ground, they attach 
themselves to the camp of some trader for protection. Here 
they come under some restrictions ; they have to conform to the 
ordinary rules for trapping, and to submit to such restraints, and 
to take part in such general duties, as are established for the 
good order and safety of the camp. In return for this protection, 
and for their camp keeping, they are bound to dispose of all the 
beaver they take, to the trader who commands the camp, at a 
certain rate per skin ; or, should they prefer seeking a market 
elsewhere, they are to make him an allowance, of from thirty to 
forty dollars for the whole hunt." 

There is an inferior order, who, either from prudence or 
poverty, come to these dangerous hunting grounds without horses 
or accoutrements, and are furnished by the traders. These, like 
the hired trappers, are bound to exert themselves to the utmost 
in taking beaver, which, without skinning, they render in at the 
trader's lodge, where a stipulated price for each is placed to their 
credit. These, though generally included in the generic name 
of free trappers, have the more specific title of skin trappers. 

The wandering whites who mingle for any length of time 
with the savages, have invariably a proneness to adopt savage 
habitudes ; but none more so than the free trappers. It is a 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



matter of vanity and ambition with them to discard every thing 
that may bear the stamp of civilized life, and to adopt the man- 
ners, habits, dress, gesture, and even walk of the Indian. You 
cannot pay a free trapper a greater compliment, than to persuade 
him you have mistaken him for an Indian brave ; and, in truth, 
the counterfeit is complete. His hair, sufiered to attain to a 
great length, is carefully combed out, and either left to fall care- 
lessly over his shoulders, or plaited neatly and tied up in otter 
skins, or parti-colored ribands. A hunting-shirt of ruffled calico 
of bright dyes, or of ornamented leather, falls to his knee ; below 
which, curiously fashioned leggins, ornamented with strings, 
fringes, and a profusion of hawks' bells, reach to a costly pair of 
moccasons of the finest Indian fabric, richly embroidered with 
beads. A blanket of scarlet, or some other bright color, hangs 
from his shoulders, and is girt round his waist with a red sash, 
in which he bestows his pistols, knife, and the stem of his Indian 
pipe ; preparations either for peace or war. His gun is lavishly 
decorated with brass tacks and vermilion, and provided with a 
fringed cover, occasionally' of buckskin, ornamented here and 
there with a feather. His horse, the noble minister to the pride, 
pleasure, and profit of the mountaineer, is selected for his speed 
and spirit, and prancing gait, and holds a place in his estimation 
second only to himself He shares largely of his bounty, and of 
his pride and pomp of trapping. He is caparisoned in the most 
dashing and fantastic style ; the bridles and crupper are weightily 
embossed with beads and cockades ; and head, mane, and tail, 
are interwoven with abundance of eagles' plumes, which flutter 
in the wind. To complete this grotesque equipment, the proud 
animal is bestreaked and bespotted with vermilion, or with white 
clay, whichever presents the most glaring contrast to his real color 



VISIT OF THE FREE TRAPPERS. 87 



Such is the account given by Captain Bonneville of these 
rangers of the wilderness, and their ap23earance at the camp was 
strikingly characteristic. They came dashing forward at full 
speed, firing their fusees, and yelling in Indian style. Their 
dark sunburnt faces, and long flowing hair, their leggins, flaps, 
moccasons, and richly-dyed blankets, and their painted horses 
gaudily caparisoned, gave them so much the air and appear- 
ance of Indians, that it was difficult to persuade one's self that 
they were white men, and had been brought up in civilized life. 

Captain Bonneville, who was delighted with the game look of 
these cavaliers of the mountains, welcomed them heartily to his 
camp, and ordered a free allowance of grog to regale them, which 
soon put them in the most braggart spirits. They pronounced 
the captain the finest fellow in the world, and his men all bons 
garqons^]oY\2i\ lads, and swore they would pass the day with them. 
They did so ; and a day it was, of boast, and swagger, and rodo- 
montade. The prime bullies and braves among the free trappers 
lad each his circle of novices, from among the captain's band ; 
mere greenhorns, men unused to Indian life ; tnangeurs de lard^ 
or pork-eaters ; as such new-comers are superciliously called by 
the veterans of the wilderness. These he would astonish and 
delight by the hour, with prodigious tales of his doings among 
the Indians ; and of the wonders he had seen, and the wonders 
he had performed, in his adventurous peregrinations among the 
mountains. 

In the evening, the free trappers drew off", and returned to 
the camp of Fontenelle, highly delighted with their visit and 
with their new acquaintances, and promising to return the follow- 
ing day. They kept their word : day after day their visits were 
repeated ; they became " hail fellow well met " with Captain 



88 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



Banneville's men ; treat after treat succeeded, until both parties 
got most potently convinced, or rather confounded, by liquor. 
Now came on confusion and uproar. The free trappers were no 
longer suffered to have all the swagger to themselves. The camp 
bullies and prime trappers of the party began to ruffle up, and 
to brag, in turn, of their perils and achievements. Each now 
tried to out-boast and out-talk the other ; a quarrel ensued as a 
matter of course, and a general fight, according to frontier usage. 
The two factions drew out their forces for a pitched battle. They 
fell to work and belabored each other with might and main ; 
kicks and cuffs and dry blows were as well bestowed as they were 
well merited, until, having fought to their hearts' content, and 
been drubbed into a familiar acquaintance with each other's 
prowess and good qualities, they ended the fight by becoming 
firmer friends than they could have been rendered by a year's 
peaceable companionship. 

While Captain Bonneville amused himself by observing the 
habits and characteristics of this singular class of men ; and 
indulged them, for the time, in all their vagaries, he profited by 
the opportunity to collect from them information concerning the 
different parts of the country about which they had been accus- 
tomed to range ; the characters of the tribes, and, in short, every 
thing important to his enterprise. He also succeeded in securing 
the services of several to guide and aid him in his peregrinations 
among the mountains, and to trap for him during the ensuing 
season. Having strengthened his party with such valuable 
recruits, he felt in some measure consoled for the loss of the 
Delaware Indians, decoyed from him by Mr. Fontenelle. 



SALMON RIVER. Hii 



CHAPTER YIII. 

Plans for the winter. — Salmon River. — Abundance of salmon west of the 
mountains. — New arrangements. — Caches. — Cerr6's detachment. — Move- 
ments in Fontenelle's camp. — Departure of the Blackfeet — their fortunes. — 
Wind Mountain streams. — Buckeye, the Delaware hvmter, and the grizzly 
bear. — Bones of murdered travellers. — Visit to Pien-e's Hole. — Traces of 
the battle. — Nez Perce Indians. — x\rrival at Salmon River. 

The information derived from the free trappers determined Cap- 
tain Bonneville as to his further movements. He learnt that in 
the Green River valley the winters were severe, the snow fre- 
quently falling to the depth of several feet ; and that there was 
no good wintering ground in the neighborhood. The upper part 
of Salmon River was represented as far more eligible, besides 
being in an excellent beaver country ; and thither the captain 
resolved to bend his course. 

The Salmon River is one of the upper branches of the Oregon 
or Columbia ; and takes its rise from various sources, among a 
group of mountains to the northwest of the Wind River chain. 
It owes its name to the immense shoals of salmon which ascend 
it in the months of September and October. The salmon on the 
west side of the Rocky Mountains are, like the buffalo on the 
eastern plains, vast migratory supplies for the wants of man, that 
come and go with the seasons. As the buffalo in countless 



90 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

throngs find their certain way in the transient pasturage on the 
prairies, along the fresh banks of the rivers, and up every valley 
and green defile of the mountains, so the salmon, at their allotted 
seasons, regulated by a sublime and all-seeing Providence, swarm 
in nivriads up the great rivers, and find their way up their main 
brauohes, and into the minutest tributar}' streams ; so as to per- 
vade the great arid plains, and to penetrate even among barren 
mountains. Thus wandering tribes are fed in the desert places 
of the wilderness, where there is no herbage for the animals of 
the chase, and where, but for these periodical supplies, it would 
be impossible for man to subsist. 

The rapid currents of the rivers which run into the Pacific 
render the ascent of them very exhausting to the salmon. When 
the fish first run up the rivers, they are fat and m fine order. 
The struggle against impetuous streams and frequent rapids 
gradually renders them thin and weak, and great numbers are 
seen floating down the rivers on their backs. As the season 
advances and the water becomes chilled, they are flung in myri- 
ads on the shores, where the wolves and bears assemble to ban- 
(pet on them. Often they rot in such quantities along the river 
banks, as to taint the atmosphere. They are commonly from two 
to three feet long. 

Captain Bonneville now made his arrangements for the 
autumn and the winter. The nature of the country through 
which he was about to travel rendered it impossible to proceed 
with wagons. He had more goods and supplies of various kinds, 
also, than were required for present purposes, or than could be 
conveniently transported on horseback ; aided, therefore, by a 
few confidential men. he made C(ic/iCi>. or secret pits, during the 
night, when all the rest of the camp were asleep, and in these 



MATTHIEU'S COMPANY. 91 



deposited the superfluous effects, together with the wagons. All 
traces of the caches were then carefully obliterated. This is a 
common expedient with the traders and trappers of the moun- 
tains. Having no established posts and magazines, they make 
these caches or deposits at certain points, whither they repair, 
occasionally, for supplies. It is an expedient derived from the 
v/andering tribes of Indians. 

Many of the horses were still so weak and lame, as to be unfit 
for a long scramble through the mountains. These were collected 
into one cavalcade, and given in charge to an experienced trapper, 
of the name of Matthieu. He was to proceed westward, with a 
brigade of trappers,, to Bear Kiver ; a stream to the west of the 
Green River or Colorado, where there was good pasturage for the 
horses. In this neighborhood it was expected he would meet the 
Shoshonie villages or bands,* on their yearly migrations, with 
whom he was to trade for peltries and provisions. After he had 
traded with these people, finished his trapping, and recruited the 
strength of the horses, he was to proceed to Salmon River and 
rejoin Captain Bonneville, who intended to fix his quarters there 
for the winter. 

While these arrangements were in progress in the camp of 
Captain Bonneville, there was a sudden bustle and stir in the 
camp of Fontenelle. One of the partners of the American 
Fur Company had arrived, in all haste, from the rendezvous at 

* A village of Indians, in trappers' language, does not always imply a 
fixed community ; but often a wandering horde or band. The Shoshonies, 
like most of the mountain tribes, have no settled residences ; but are a nomadic 
people, dwelling in tents or lodges, and shifting their encampments from place 
to place, according as fish and game abound. 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



Pierre s Hole, in quest of the supplies. The competition between 
the two rival companies was just now at its height, and prose- 
cuted with unusual zeal. The tramontane concerns of the Rocky 
Mountain Fur Company were managed by two resident partners, 
Fitzpatrick and Bridger ; those of the American Fur Company, 
by Vanderburgh and Dripps. The latter were ignorant of the 
mountain regions, but trusted to make up by vigilance and ac- 
tivity for their want of knowledge of the country. 

Fitzpatrick, an experienced trader and trapper, knew the 
evils of competition in the same hunting grounds, and had pro- 
posed that the two companies should divide the country, so as to 
hunt in different directions : this proposition being rejected, he 
had exerted himself to get first into the field. His exertions, as 
has already been shown, were effectual. The early arrival of 
Sublette, with supplies, had enabled the various brigades of the 
Rocky Mountain Company to start oft' to their respective hunt- 
ing grounds. Fitzpatrick himself, with his associate, Bridger, 
had pushed oft" with a strong party of trappers, for a prime 
beaver country to the north-northwest. 

This had put Vanderburgh upon his mettle. He had has- 
tened on to meet Fontenelle. Finding him at his camp in Green 
River valley, he immediately furnished himself with the supplies ; 
put himself at the head of the free trappers and Delawares, and 
set off with all speed, determined to follow hard upon the heels 
of Fitspatrick and Bridger. Of the adventures of these parties 
among the mountains, and the disastrous effects of their compe- 
tition, we shall have occasion to treat in a future chapter. 

Fontenelle having now delivered his supplies and accom- 
plished his errand, struck his tents and set off on his return to 
the Yellowstone. Captain Bonneville and his band, therefore. 



DECAMPMENT.— MOUNTAIN STREAMS. 93 



remained alone in the Green River valley ; and their situation 
might have been perilous, had the Blackfeet band still lingered in 
the vicinity. Those marauders, however, had been dismayed at 
finding so many resolute and well-appointed parties of white men in 
this neighborhood. They had, therefore, abandoned this part of 
the country, passing over the head waters of the Green River, and 
bending their course towards the Yellowstone. Misfortune pur- 
sued them. Their route lay through the country of their deadly 
enemies, the Crows. In the Wind River valley, which lies east 
of the moiintains, they were encountered by a powerful war party 
of that tribe, and completely put to rout. Forty of them were 
killed, many of their women and children captured, and the scat- 
tered fugitives hunted like wild beasts, until they were com 
pletely chased out of the Crow country. 

On the 2'2d of August Captain Bonneville broke up his camp, 
and set out on his route for Salmon River. His baggage was 
arranged in packs, three to a mule, or pack-horse ; one being dis- 
posed on each side of the animal, and one on the top ; the three 
forming a load of from one hundred and eighty to two hundred 
and twenty pounds. This is the trappers' style of loading their 
pack-horses ; his men, however, were inexpert at adjusting the 
packs ; which were prone to get loose and slip off; so that it was 
necessary to keep a rear-guard to assist in reloading. A few 
days' experience, however, brought them into proper training. 

Their march lay up the valley of the Seeds-ke-dee, overlooked 
to the right by the lofty peaks of the Wind River Mountains. 
From bright little lakes and fountain-heads of this remarkable 
bed of mountains, poured forth the tributary streams of the 
Seeds-ke-dee. Some came rushing down gullies and ravines ; 
others tumbling in crystal cascades from inaccessible clefts and 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



rocks, and others winding their way in rapid and pellucid cur- 
rents across the valley, to throw themselves into the main river. 
So transparent were these waters, that the trout with which they 
abounded, could be seen gliding about as if in the air ; and their 
pebbly beds were distinctly visible at the depth of many feet. 
This beautiful and diaphanous quality of the Eocky Mountain 
streams, prevails for a long time after they have mingled their 
waters and swollen into important rivers. 

Issuing from the upper part of the valley. Captain Bonneville 
continued to the east-northeast, across rough and lofty ridges, and 
deep rocky defiles, extremely fatiguing both to man and horse. 
Among his hunters was a Delaware Indian who had remained 
faithful to him. His name was Buckeye. He had often prided 
himself on his skill and success in coping with the grizzly bear, 
that terror of the hunters. Though crippled in the left arm, he 
declared he had no hesitation to close with a wounded bear, and 
attack him with a sword. If armed with a rifle, he was willing 
to brave the animal when in full force and iiwy. He had twice 
an opportunity of proving his prowess, in the course of this 
mountain journey, and was each time successful. His mode was 
to seat himself upon the ground, with his rifle cocked and resting 
on his lame arm. Thus prepared, he would await the approach 
of the bear with perfect coolness, nor pull trigger until he was 
close at hand. In each instance, he laid the monster dead upon 
the spot. 

A march of three or four days, through savage and lonely 
scenes, brought Captain Bonneville to the fatal defile of Jackson's 
Hole, where poor More and Foy had been surprised and mur- 
dered by the Blackfeet. The feelings of the captain were shock- 
ed at beholding the bones of these unfortunate young men 



BATTLE GROUND OF PIERRE'S HOLE. 95 



bleaching among the rocks : and he caused them to he decently 
interred. 

On the 3d of September he arrived on the summit of a moun- 
tain which commanded a full view of the eventful valley of 
Pierre's Hole ; whence he could trace the winding of its streams 
through green meadows, and forests of willow and cotton-wood 
and have a prospect, between distant mountains, of the lava 
plains of Snake River, dimly spread forth like a sleeping ocean 
below. 

After enjoying this magnificent prospect, he descended into 
the valley, and visited the scenes of the late desperate conflict. 
There were the remains of the rude fortress in the swamp, shat- 
tered by rifle shot, and strewed with the mingled bones of sav- 
ages and horses. There was the late populous and noisy rendez- 
vous, with the traces of trappers' camps and Indian lodges ; but 
their fires were extinguished, the motley assemblage of trappers 
and hunters, white traders and Indian braves, had all dispersed 
to diff"erent points of the wilderness, and the valley had relapsed 
into its pristine solitude and silence. 

That night the captain encamped upon the battle ground ; the 
next day he resumed his toilsome peregrinations through the moun- 
tains. For upwards of two weeks he continued his painful march ; 
both men and horses suffering excessively at times from hunger 
and thirst. At length, on the 19th of September, he reached the 
upper waters of Salmon River. 

The weather was cold, and there were symptoms of an impend- 
ing storm. The night set in, but Buckeye, the Delaware Indian, 
was missing. He had left the party early in the morning, to 
hunt by himself, according to his custom. Fears were entertained 
lest he should lose his way and become bewildered in tempestuous 



96 bonneville:'S adventures. 



weather. These fears mereased on the following morning, when 
a violent snow-storm came on, which soon covered the earth to 
the depth of several inches. Captain Bonneville immediately 
encamped, and sent out scouts in every direction. After some 
search Buckeye was discovered, quietly seated at a considerable 
distance in the rear, waiting the expected approach of the party, 
not knowing that they had passed, the snow having covered 
their trail. 

On the ensuing morning they resumed their march at an 
early hour, but had not proceeded tar when the hunters, who 
were beating up the country in the advance, came galloping back, 
making signals to encamp, and crying Indians ! Indians ! 

Captain Bonneville immediately struck into a skirt of wood 
and prepared for action. The savages were now seen trooping 
over the hills in great numbers. One of them left the main body 
and came forward singly, making signals of peace. He an- 
nounced them as a band of Nez Perces* or Pierced-nose Indians, 
friendly to the whites, whereupon an invitation was returned by 
Captain Bonneville, for them to come and encamp with him. 
They halted for a short time to make their toilette, an operation 
as important with an Indian warrior as with a fashionable beauty. 
This done, they arranged themselves in martial style, the chiefs 
leading the van, the braves following in a long line, painted and 
decorated, and topped otf with fluttering plumes. In this way 
they advanced, shouting and singing, firing off their fusees, and 

* We should obsen-e that this tribe is imiversally called by its French 
name, which is pronounced by the trappers, Nepercy. There are two main 
branches of this tribe, the upper Nepercys and the lower Nepercys, as we shall 
show hereafter. 



DETACHMENT OF CERR6. 97 



clashing their shields. The two parties encamped hard by each 
other. The Nez Perces were on a hunting expedition, but had 
been almost famished on their march. They had no provisions 
left but a few dried salmon, yet finding the white men equally in 
want, they generously ofiered to share even this meager pittance, 
and frequently repeated the ofi'er, with an earnestness that left no 
doubt of their sincerity. Their generosity won the heart of Cap- 
tain Bonneville, and produced the most cordial good will on the 
part of his men. For two days that the parties remained in com- 
pany, the most amicable intercourse prevailed, and they parted 
the best of friends. Captain Bonneville detached a few men, 
under Mr. Cerre, an able leader, to accompany the Nez Perces 
on their hunting expedition, and to trade with them for meat for 
the winter's supply. After this, he proceeded down the river, 
about five miles below the forks, when he came to a halt on the 
26th of September, to establish his winter quarters. 



98 BONNEVILLES ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Horses turned loose. — Preparations tor winter quarters. — Hungry times. — Nez 
Percys, their honesty, piety, pacific habits, religious ceremonies. — Captain 
Bonneville's conversations with them. — Their love of gambling 

It was gratifying to Captain Bouneville. after so long and toil- 
some a course of travel, to relieve bis poor jaded horses of the 
burdens under which they were almost ready to give out, and to 
behold them rolling upon tlie grass, and taking a long repose 
after all their sufferings. Indeed, so exhausted were they, that 
those employed under the saddle were no longer capable of hunt- 
ing for the daily subsistence of the camp. 

All hands now set to work to prepare a winter cantonment. 
A temporary fortification was thrown up for the protection of the 
party ; a secure and comfortable pen. into which the horses could 
be driven at night : and huts were built for the reception of the 
merchandise. 

This done, Captain Bonneville made a distribution of his 
forces : twenty men were to remain with him in garrison to pro- 
tect the property ; the rest were organized into three brigades, 
and sent off in ditVerent directions, to subsist themselves by hunt- 
ing the buffalo, until the snow should become too deep. 

Indeed, it would have been impossible to provide for the 



HUNGER IN THE CAMP. 99 



whole party in this neighborhood. It was at the extreme western 
limit of the buffalo range, and these animals had recently been 
completely hunted out of the neighborhood by the Nez Perces, 
so that, although the hunters of the garrison were continually 
on the alert, ranging the country round, they brought in scarce 
game sufficient to keep famine from the door. Now and then 
there was a scanty meal of fish or wild-fowl, occasionally an an- 
telope ; but frequently the cravings of hunger had to be appeased 
with roots, or the flesh of wolves and muskrats. Rarely could 
the inmates of the cantonment boast of having made a full meal, 
and never of having wherewithal for the morrow. In this way 
they starved along until the 8th of October, when they were 
joined by a party of five families of Nez Perces, who in some 
measure reconciled them to the hardships of their situation, by 
exhibiting a lot still more destitute. A more forlorn set they 
had never encountered : they had not a morsel of meat or fish ; 
nor any thing to subsist on, excepting roots, wild rosebuds, the 
barks of certain plants, and other vegetable productions ; neither 
had they any weapon for hunting or defence, excepting an old 
spear : yet the poor fellows made no murmur nor complaint ; but 
seemed accustomed to their hard fare. If they could not teach 
the white men their practical stoicism, they at least made them 
acquainted with the edible properties of roots and wild rosebuds, 
and furnished them a supply from their own store. The neces- 
sities of the camp at length became so urgent, that Captain 
Bonneville determined to dispatch a party to the Horse Prairie, 
a plain to the north of his cantonment, to procure a supply of 
provisions. AVhen the men were about to depart, he proposed to 
the Nez Perces that they, or some of them, should join the hunt- 



100 BONNEVILLE'^ ADVENTURES. 



ing-part J. To his surprise, they promptly declined. He inquired 
the reason for their refusal, seeing that they were in nearly as 
starving a situation as his own people. They replied that it was 
a sacred day with them, and the Great Spirit would be angry 
should they devote it to hunting. They offered, however, to ac- 
company the party if it would delay its departure until the fol- 
lowing day ; but this the pinching demands of hunger would not 
permit, and the detachment proceeded. 

A few days afterwards, four of them signified to Captain 
Bonneville that they were about to hunt. '• What !" exclaimed 
he, '• without guns or arrows ; and with only one old spear ? 
AVhat do you expect to kill ?" They smiled among themselves, 
but made no answer. Preparatory to the chase, they performed 
some religious rites, and offered up to the G-reat Spirit a few 
short prayers for safety and success ; then, having received the 
blessings of their wives, they leaped upon their horses and de- 
parted, leaving the whole party of Christian spectators amazed 
and rebuked by this lesson of faith and dependence on a supreme 
and benevolent Being. '• Accustomed," adds Captain Bonneville, 
'• as I had heretofore been, to find the wretched Indian revelling 
in blood, and stained by every vice which can degrade human 
nature. I could scarcely realize the scene which I had witnessed. 
Wonder at such unaffected tenderness and piety, where it was 
least to have been sought, contended in all our bosoms with 
shame and confusion, at receiving such pure and wholesome in- 
structions from creatures so far below us in all the arts and com- 
forts of life." The simple prayers of the poor Indians were not 
unheard. In the course of four or five days they returned, laden 
with meat. Captain Bonneville was curious to know how they 



PIETY OF THE NEZ PERCES. lOl 



had attained such success with such scanty means. They gave 
him to understand that they had chased the herds of buflfalo at 
full speed, until they tired them down, when they easily dispatched 
them with the spear, and made use of the same weapon to flay 
the carcasses. To carry through their lesson to their Christian 
friends, the poor savages were as charitable as they had been 
pious, and generously shared with them the spoils of their hunt- 
ing ; giving them food enough to last for several days. 

A further and more intimate intercourse with this tribe, gave 
Captain Bonneville still greater cause to admire their strong de- 
votional feeling. " Simply to call these people religious," says 
he, " would convey but a faint idea of the deep hue of piety and 
devotion which pervades their whole conduct. Their honesty is 
immaculate, and their purity of purpose, and their observance of 
the rites of their religion, are most uniform and remarkable. 
They are, certainly, more like a nation of saints than a horde of 
savages." 

In fact, the antibelligerent policy of this tribe may have 
sprung from the doctrines of Christian charity, for it would ap- 
pear that they had imbibed some notions of the Christian faith 
from Catholic missionaries and traders who had been among 
them. They even had a rude calendar of the fasts and festivals 
of the Romish Church, and some traces of its ceremonials. These 
have become blended with their own wild rites, and present a 
strange medley ; civilized and barbarous. On the Sabbath, men, 
women, and children array themselves in their best style, and 
assemble round a pole erected at the head of the camp. Here 
they go through a wild fantastic ceremonial ; strongly resembling 
the religious dance of the Shaking Quakers ; but from its enthu- 



102 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

siasm, mucli more striking and impressive. During the intervals 
of the ceremony, the principal chiefs, who officiate as priests, in- 
struct them in their duties, and exhort them to virtue and good 
deeds. 

" There is something antique and patriarchal," observes Cap- 
tain Bonneville, " in this union of the offices of leader and priest ; 
as there is in many of their customs and manners, which are all 
strongly imbued with religion." 

The worthy captain, indeed, appears to have been strongly 
interested by this gleam of unlooked for light amidst the dark- 
ness of the wilderness. He exerted himself, during his sojourn 
among this simple and well-disposed people, to inculcate, as far 
as he was able, the gentle and humanizing precepts of the Chris- 
tian faith, and to make them acquainted with the leading points 
of its history ; and it speaks highly for the purity and benig- 
nity of his heart, that he derived unmixed happiness from the 
task. 

" Many a time," says he, '- was my little lodge thronged, or 
rather piled with hearers, for they lay on the ground, one leaning 
over the other, until there was no further room, all listening with 
greedy ears to the wonders which the Great Spirit had revealed 
to the white man. Xo other subject gave them half the satisfac- 
tion, or commanded half the attention ; and but few scenes in 
my life remain so freshly on my memory, or are so pleasurably 
recalled to my contemplation, as these hours of intercourse with 
a distant and benighted race in the midst of the desert." 

The only excesses indulged in by this temperate and exem- 
plary people, appear to be gambling and horseracing. In these 
they engage with an eagerness that amounts to infatuation. 



THEIR LOVE OF GAMBLING. 103 



Knots of gamblers will assemble before one of their lodge fires, 
early in the evening, and remain absorbed in the chances and 
changes of the game until long after dawn of the following day. 
As the night advances, they wax warmer and warmer. Bets in- 
crease in amount, one loss only serves to lead to a greater, until 
in the course of a single night's gambling, the richest chief may 
become the poorest varlet in the camp. 



104 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER X. 

Blackfeet in the Horse Prairie. — Search after the hunters. — Difficiilties and 
dangers. — A card party in the wilderness. — The card party interrupted. — 
" Old Sledge" a losing game. — Visitors to the camp. — Iroquois hunters. — 
Hanging-eared Indians. 

On the l"2th of October, two young Indians of the Xez Peree 
tribe arrived at Captain Bonneville's encampment. They were 
on their way homeward, but had been obliged to swerve from 
their ordinary route through the mountains, by deep snows. 
Their new route took them through the Horse Prairie. In tra- 
versing it. they had been attracted by the distant smoke of a 
camp fire, and, on stealing near to reconnoitre, had discovered a 
war party of Blackfeet. They had several horses with them : 
and, as they generally go on foot on warlike excursions, it was 
concluded that these horses had been captured in the course of 
their maraudings. 

This intelligence awakened solicitude on the mind of Captain 
Bonneville, for the party of hunters whom he had sent to that 
neighborhood : and the Nez Perces, when informed of the cir- 
cumstance, shook their heads, and declared their belief that the 
horses they had seen had been stolen from that very party. 

Anxious for information on the subject. Captain Bonneville 
dispatched two hunters to beat up the country in that direction 



SCOUTING PARTY. 105 



They searched in vain ; not a trace of the men could be found ; 
but they got into a region destitute of game, where they were 
well-nigh famished. At one time, they were three entire days 
without a mouthful of food ; at length they beheld a buffalo 
grazing at the foot of a mountain. After manoeuvring so as to 
get within shot, they fired, but merely wounded him. He took 
to flight, and they followed him over hill and dale, with the 
eagerness and perseverance of starving men. A more lucky shot 
brought him to the ground. Stanfield sprang upon him, plunged 
his knife into his throat, and allayed his raging hunger by drink- 
ing his blood. A fire was instantly kindled beside the carcass, 
when the two hunters cooked, and ate again and again, until, per- 
fectly gorged, they sank to sleep before their hunting fire. On 
the following morning they rose early, made another hearty meal, 
then loading themselves with buff"alo meat, set out on their return 
to the camp, to report the fruitlessness of their mission. 

At length, after six weeks' absence, the hunters made their 
appearance, and were received with joy, proportioned to the 
anxiety that had been felt on their account. They had hunted 
with success on the prairie, but, while busy drying buffalo meat, 
were joined by a few panic-stricken Flatheads, who informed them 
that a powerful band of Blackfeet were at hand. The hunters 
immediately abandoned the dangerous hunting ground, and ac- 
companied the Flatheads to their village. Here they found Mr. 
Cerre, and the detachment of hunters sent with him to accompany 
the hunting party of the Nez Perces. 

After remaining some time at the village, until they supposed 
the Blackfeet to have left the neighborhood, they set off" with 
some of Mr. Cerre's men, for the cantonment at Salmon River, 
where they arrived without accident. They informed Captain 



lOb BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



Bonneville, however, that not far from his quarters, they had 
found a wallet of fresh meat and a cord, which they supposed had 
been left by some prowling Blackfeet. A few days afterwards, 
Mr. Cerre, with the remainder of his men, likewise arrived at 
the cantonment. 

Mr. Walker, one of the subleaders, who had gone with a band 
of twenty hunters, to range the country just beyond the Horse 
Prairie, had, likewise, his share of adventures with the all-per- 
vading Blackfeet. At one of his encampments, the guard sta- 
tioned to keep watch round the camp grew weary of their duty, 
and feeling a little too secure, and too much at home on these 
prairies, retired to a small grove of willows, to amuse themselves 
with a social game of cards, called " old sledge," which is as 
popular among these trampers of the prairies, as whist or ecarte 
among the polite circles of the cities. From the midst of their 
sport, they were suddenly roused by a discharge of firearms, and 
a shrill war-whoop. Starting on their feet, and snatching up 
their rifles, they beheld in dismay their horses and mules already 
in possession of the enemy, who had stolen upon the camp unper- 
ceived, while they were spell-bound by the magic of old sledge. 
The Indians sprang upon the animals barebacked, and endeavored 
to urge them off under a galling fire, that did some execution. 
The mules, however, confounded by the hurly-burly, and disliking 
their new riders, kicked up their heels and dismounted half of 
them, in spite of their horsemanship. This threw the rest into 
confusion ; they endeavored to protect their unhorsed comrades 
from the furious assaults of the whites ; but, after a scene of 
•• confusion worse confounded," horses and mules were abandoned, 
and the Indians betook themselves to the bushes. Here they 
quickly scratched holes in the earth, about two feet deep, in 



HANGING-EARED INDIANS. 107 



whichi tliey prostrated themselves, and while thus screened from 
the shots of the white men, were enabled to make such use of 
their Lows and arrows, and fusees, as to repulse their assailants, 
and to effect their retreat. This adventure threw a temporary 
stigma upon the game of " old sledge." 

In the course of the autumn, four Iroquois hunters, driven 
by the snow from their hunting grounds, made their appearance 
at the cantonment. They were kindly welcomed, and during 
their sojourn made themselves useful in a variety of ways, being 
excellent trappers, and first-rate woodsmen. They were of the 
remnants of a party of Iroquois hunters, that came from Canada 
into these mountain regions many years previously, in the em- 
ploy of the Hudson's Bay Company. They were led by a brave 
chieftain, named Pierre, who fell by the hands of the Blackfeet, 
and gave his name to the fated valley of Pierre's Hole. This 
branch of the Iroquois tribe has ever since remained among 
these mountains, at mortal enmity with the Blackfeet, and have 
lost many of their prime hunters in their feuds with that fero- 
cious race. Some of them fell in with General Ashley, in the 
course of one of his gallant excursions into the wilderness, and 
have continued ever since in the employ of the company. 

Among the motley visitors to the winter quarters of Captain 
Bonneville, was a party of Pends Oreilles (or Hanging-ears) and 
their chief These Indians have a strong resemblance, in charac- 
ter and customs, to the Nez Perc's. They amount to about 
three hundred lodges, and are well armed, and possess great num- 
bers of horses. During the spring, summer, and autumn, they 
hunt the buffalo about the head waters of the Missouri, Henry's 
fork of the Snake Kiver, and the northern branches of Salmon 
River. Their winter quarters are upon the Bacine Amere, 



108 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



where they subsist upon roots aud dried buflfalo meat. Upon 
this river the Hudson's Bay Company have established a trading 
post, where the Pends Orcilles and the Flatheads bring their 
peltries to exchange for arms, clothing, and trinkets. 

This tribe, like the Nez Perces, evince strong and peculiar 
feelings of natural piety. Their religion is not a mere supersti- 
tious fear, like that of most savages ; they evince abstract notions 
of morality ; a deep reverence for an overruling Spirit, and a 
respect for the rights of their fellow-men. In one respect, their 
religion partakes of the pacific doctrines of the Quakers. They 
hold that the Great Spirit is displeased with all nations who wan- 
tonly engage in war ; they abstain, therefore, from all aggressive 
hostilities. But though thus unoffending in their policy, they 
are called upon continually to wage defensive warfiire ; especially 
with the Blackfeet ; with whom, in the course of their hunting 
expeditions, they come in frequent collision, and have desperate 
battles. Their conduct as warriors is without fear or reproach, 
and they can never be driven to abandon their hunting grounds. 

Like most savages, they are firm believers in dreams, and in 
the power and eflicuoy of charms and amulets, or medicines, as 
they term them. Some of their brtives, also, who have had 
numerous hairbreadth 'scapes, like the old Nez Perce chief in the 
battle of Pierre's Hole, are \>elieved to wear a charmed life, and 
to be bullet proof Of these g'lfted beings marvellous anecdotes 
are related, which are most potently believed by their fellow- 
Bavages, and sometimes almost credited by the white hunters. 



RIVAL TRAPPERS. 109 



CHAPTER XL 

Rival trapping parties. — Manoeuvring. — A desperate game. — Vanderburgh and 
the Blackfeet. — Deserted camp fire. — A dark defile. — An Indian ambush. — 
A fierce melee — fatal consequences. — Fitzpatrick and Bridger. — Trappers' 
precautions. — Meeting with the Blackfeet. — More fighting. — Anecdote of 
a young Mexican and an Indian girl. 

While Captain Bonneville and his men are sojourning among 
the Nez Perccs, on Salmon River, we will inquire after the for- 
.tunes of those doughty rivals of the Rocky Mountains and 
American Fur Companies, who started off for the trapping 
grounds to the north-northwest. 

Fitzpatrick and Bridger, of the former company, as we have 
already shown, having received their supplies, had taken the lead, 
and hoped to have the first sweep of the hunting ground. Van- 
derburgh and Dripps, however, the two resident partners of the 
opposite company, by extraordinary exertions, were enabled soon 
to put themselves upon their traces, and pressed forward with 
such speed as to overtake them just as they had reached the heart 
of the beaver country. In fact, being ignorant of the best trap- 
ping grounds, it was their object to follow on, and profit by the 
superior knowledge of the other party. 

Nothing could equal the chagrin of Fitzpatrick and Bridger, 
at being dogged by their inexperienced rivals ; especially after 



110 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



their offer to divide the country with them. They tried in every 
way to blind and baffle them ; to steal a march upon them, or 
lead them on a wrong scent; but all in vain. Vanderburgh 
made up by activity and intelligence, for his ignorance of the 
country ; was always wary, always on the alert ; discovered every 
movement of his rivals, however secret, and was not to be eluded 
or misled. 

Fitzpatrick and his colleague now lost all patience : since the 
others persisted in following them, they determined to give them 
an unprofitable chase, and to sacrifice the hunting season, rather 
than share the products with their rivals. They accordingly took 
up their line of march down the course of the Missouri, keeping 
the main Blackfoot trail, and tramping doggedly forward, without 
stopping to set a single trap. The others beat the hoof after 
them for some time, but by degrees began to perceive that they 
were on a wild-goose chase, and getting into a country perfectly, 
barren to the trapper. They now came to a halt, and bethought 
themselves how to make up for lost time, and improve the 
remainder of the season. It was thought best to divide their 
forces and try different trapping grounds. While Dripps went 
in one direction, Vanderburgh, with about fifty men, proceeded 
in another. The latter, in his headlong march, had got into the 
very heart of the Blackfoot country, yet seems to have been 
unconscious of his danger. As his scouts were out one day, they 
came upon the traces of a recent band of savages. There were 
the deserted fires still smoking, surrounded by the carcasses of 
buffaloes just killed. It was evident a party of Blackfeet had 
been frightened from their hunting camp, and had retreated, 
probably to seek reinforcements. The scouts hastened back to 
the camp, and told Vanderburgh what they had seen. He made 



THE FATAL RIFLE. Ill 



light of the alarm, and, taking nine men with him, galloped off to 
reconnoitre for himself He found the deserted hunting camp 
just as they had represented it ; there lay the carcasses of buffa- 
loes, partly dismembered ; there were the smouldering fires, still 
sending up their wreaths of smoke : every thing bore traces of 
recent and hasty retreat ; and gave reason to believe that the 
savages were still lurking in the neighborhood. With heedless 
daring, Vanderburgh put himself upon their trail, to trace them 
to their place of concealment. It led him over prairies, and 
through skirts of woodland, until it entered a dark and danger- 
ous ravine. Vanderburgh pushed in, without hesitation, followed 
by his little band. They soon found themselves in a gloomy 
dell, between steep banks overhung with trees ; where the pro- 
found silence was only broken by the tramp of their own horses. 

Suddenly the horrid war-whoop burst on their ears, min- 
gled with the sharp report of rifles, and a legion of savages 
sprang from their concealments, yelling, and shaking their buf- 
falo robes to frighten the horses. Vanderburgh's horse fell, 
mortally wounded by the first discharge. In his fall, he pinned 
his rider to the ground ; who called in vain upon his men to 
assist in extricating him. One was shot down and scalped a 
few paces distant ; most of the others were severely wounded, 
and sought their safety in flight. The savages approached to 
dispatch the unfortunate leader, as he lay struggling beneath his 
horse. He had still his rifle in his hand, and his pistols in his 
belt. The first savage that advanced received the contents of 
tlie rifle in his breast, and fell dead upon the spot ; but before 
Vanderburgh could draw a pistol, a blow from a tomahawk laid 
him prostrate, and he was dispatched by repeated wounds. 

Such was the fate of Major Henry Vanderburgh : one of the 



112 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



best and worthiest leaders of the American Fur Oompauy ; who, 
by his manly bearing and dauntless courage, is said to have 
made himself universally popular among the bold-hearted rovers 
of the wilderness. 

Those of the little band who escaped fled in consternation to 
the camp, and spread direful reports of the force and ferocity of 
the enemy. The party, being without a head, were in complete 
confusion and dismay, and made a precipitate retreat, without 
attempting to recover the remains of their butchered leader. 
They made no halt until they reached the encampment of the 
Pends Oreilles, or Hanging-ears, where they offered a reward for 
the recovery of the body, but without success ; it never could be 
found. 

In the meantime Fitzpatrick and Bridger. of the Eocky 
Mountain Company, fared but little better than their rivals. In 
their eagerness to mislead them, they had betrayed themselves 
into danger, and got into a region infested with the Blaekfeet. 
They soon found that foes were on the watch for them ; but they 
were experienced in Indian warfare, and not to be surprised at 
night, nor drawn into an ambush in the daytime. As the evening 
advanced, the horses were all brought in and picketed, and a 
guard was stationed round the camp. At the earliest streak of 
day one of the leaders would mount his horse, and gallop off full 
speed for about half a mile ; then look round for Indian trails, to 
ascertain whether there had been any lurkers round the camp : 
returning slowly, he would reconnoitre every ravine and thicket 
where there might be an ambush. This done, he would gallop 
off in an opposite direction and repeat the same scrutiny. Find- 
ing all things safe, the horses would be turned loose to graze ; 
but always under the eye of a guard. 



BRIDGER AND THE BLACKFEET. 113 



A 



A caution equally vigilant was observed in the inarch, on 
approaching any defile or place where an enemy might lie in 
wait ; and scouts were always kept in the advance, or along the 
ridges and rising grounds on the flanks. 

At length, one day, a large band of Blackfeet appeared in the 
open field, but in the vicinity of rocks and cliffs. They kept at 
a wary distance, but made friendly signs. The trappers replied 
in the same way, but likewise kept aloof A small party of 
Indians now advanced, bearing the pipe of peace ; they were met 
by an equal number of white men, and they formed a group, 
midway between the two bands, where the pipe was circulated 
from hand to hand, and smoked with all due ceremony. An 
instance of natural affection took place at this pacific meeting. 
Among the free trappers in the Rocky Mountain band, was a 
spirited young Mexican, named Loretto ; who, in the course of 
his wanderings, had ransomed a beautiful Blackfoot girl from a 
band of Crows by whom she had been captured. He made her 
his wife, after the Indian style, and she had followed his fortunes 
ever since, with the most devoted affection. 

Among the Blackfeet warriors who advanced with the calu- 
met of peace, she recognized a brother. Leaving her infant 
with Loretto, she rushed forward and threw herself upon her 
brother's neck ; who clasped his long lost sister to his heart, with 
a warmth of affection but little compatible with the reputed 
stoicism of the savage. 

While this scene was taking place, Bridger left the main body 
of trappers, and rode slowly towards the group of smokers, with 
his rifle resting across the pommel of his saddle. The chief of 
the Blackfeet stepped forward to meet him. From some unfor- 
tunate feeling of distrust, Bridger cocked his rifle just as the 



114 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



chief was extending his hand in friendship. The quick ear of 
the savage caught the click of the lock ; in a twinkling, he grasp- 
ed the barrel, forced the muzzle downward, and the contents were 
discharged into the earth at his feet. His next movement was 
to wrest the weapon from the hand of Bridger, and fell him with 
it to the earth. He might have found this no easy task, had not 
the unfortunate leader received two arrows in his back during 
the struggle. 

The chief now sprang into the vacant saddle and galloped off 
to his band. A wild hurry-skurry scene ensued : each party took 
to the banks, the rocks, and trees, to gain favorable positions, and 
an irregular tiring was kept up on either side, without much ef- 
fect. The Indian girl had been hurried off by her people, at the 
outbreak of the affray. She would have returned, through the 
dangers of the fight, to her husband and her child, but was pre- 
vented by her brother. The young Mexican saw her struggles 
and her agony, and heard her piercing cries. With a generous 
impulse, he caught up the child in his arms, rushed forward, re- 
gardless of Indian shaft or rifle, and placed it in safety upon her 
bosom. Even the savage heart of the Blackfoot chief was reached 
by this noble deed. He pronounced Loretto a madman for his 
temerity, but bade him depart in peace. The young Mexican 
hesitated : he urged to have his wife restored to him, but her 
brother interfered, and the countenance of the chief grew dark. 
The girl, he said, belonged to his tribe — she must remain with 
her people. Loretto would still have lingered, but his wife im- 
plored him to depart, lest his life should be endangered. It 
was with the greatest reluctance that he returned to his com- 
panions. 

The approach of night put an end to the skirmishing fire of 



LORETTO AND HIS INDIAN BRIDE. IJ5 



the adverse parties, and the savages drew off without renewing 
their hostilities. We cannot but remark, that both in this affair, 
and in that at Pierre's Hole, the affray commenced by a hostile 
act on the part of white men, at the moment when the Indian 
warrior was extending the hand of amity. In neither instance, 
as far as circumstances have been stated to us by different per- 
sons, do we see any reason to suspect the savage chiefs of perfidy 
in their overtures of friendship. They advanced in the confiding 
way, usual among Indians when they bear the pipe of peace, 
and consider themselves sacred from attack. If we violate the 
sanctity of this ceremonial, by any hostile movement on our part, 
it is we who incur the charge of faithlessness ; and we doubt not, 
that in both these instances, the white men have been considered 
by the Blackfeet as the aggressors, and have, in consequence, 
been held up as men not to be trusted. 

A word to conclude the romantic incident of Loretto and his 
Indian bride. A few months subsequent to the event just re- 
lated, the young Mexican settled his accounts with the Rocky 
Mountain Company, and obtained his discharge. He then left 
his comrades and set off to rejoin his wife and child among her 
people ; and we understand that, at the time we are writing these 
pages, he resides at a trading-house established of late by the 
American Fur Company, in the Blackfoot country, where he acts 
as an interpreter, and has his Indian girl with him. 



IIS BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XII. 

A winter camp in the wilderness. — ^Medley of trappers, hunters, and Indians. 
— Scarcity of game. — New arrangements in the camp. — Detachments sent 
to a distance. — Carelessness of the Indians when encamped. — Sickness 
among the Indians. — Excellent character of the Nez Percys. — The cap- 
tain's effort as a pacificator. — A Nez Percy's argument in favor of war. — 
Robberies by the Blackfeet. — Long suffering of the Nez Percy's. — A hunt- 
er's elysimn among the mountains. — More robberies. — The captain preaches 
up a crus;\dc. — The effect upon his hearers. 

For the greater part of the mouth of Xovember. Captaiu Bouue- 
ville remained in his temporary post on Salmon Eiver. He was 
now in the full enjoyment of his wishes ; leading a hunter's life 
in the heart of the wilderness, with all its wild populace around 
him. Beside his own people, motley in character and costume — • 
Creole. Kentuckian, Indian, half-breed, hired trapper, and free 
trapper — he was surrounded by encampments of Xez Perces and 
Flatheads. with their droves of horses covering the hills and 
plains. It was. he declares, a wild and bustling scene. The hunt- 
ing parties of white men and red men. continually sallying forth 
and returning ; the groups at the various encampments, some 
cooking, some working, some amusing themselves at different 
games ; the neighing of horses, the braying of asses, the resound- 
ing strokes of the axe. the sharp report of the rifle, the whoop, 



f 



WINTER CAMP IN THK WILDERNESS. 117 



the halloo, and the frequent burst of laughter, all in the midst 
of a region suddenly roused from perfect silence and loneliness 
by this transient hunters' sojourn, realized, he says, the idea of a 
" populous solitude." 

The kind and genial character of the captain had, evidently, 
its influence on the opposite races thus fortuitously congregated 
together. The most perfect harmony prevailed between them. 
The Indians, he says, were friendly in their dispositions, and 
honest to the most scrupulous degree, in their intercourse with 
the white men. It is true they were somewhat importunate in 
their curiosity, and apt to be continually in the way, examining 
''very thing with keen and prying eye, and watching every move- 
ment of the white men. All this, however, was borne with great 
'good-humor by the captain, and through his example by his men. 
Indeed, throughout all his transactions, he shows himself the 
friend of the poor Indians, and his conduct towards them is 
above all praise. 

The Nez Perccs, the Flatheads, and the Hanging-ears, pride 
themselves upon the number of their horses, of which they pos- 
sess more in proportion than any other of the mountain tribes 
within the buffalo range. Many of the Indian warriors and 
hunters, encamped around Captain Bonneville, possess from 
thirty to forty horses each. Their horses are stout, well built 
ponies, of great wind, and capable of enduring the severest hard- 
ship and fatigue. The swiftest of them, however, are those ob- 
tained from the whites, while sufficiently young to become accli- 
mated and inured to the rough service of the mountains. 

By degrees the populousness of this encampment began to 
produce its inconveniences. The immense droves of horses 
owned by the Indians, consumed the herbage of the surrounding 



118 BOxN NEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

hills ; while, to drive them to any distant pasturage, in a neigh- 
borhood abounding with lurking and deadly enemies, would be to 
endanger the loss both of man and beast. Game, too, began to 
grow scarce. It was soon hunted and frightened out of the 
vicinity, and though the Indians made a wide circuit through the 
mountains in the hope of driving the buifalo towards the canton- 
ment, their expedition was unsuccessful. It was plain that so 
large a party could not subsist themselves there, nor in any one 
place, throughout the winter. Captain Bonneville, therefore, 
altered his whole arrangements. He detached fifty men towards 
the south to winter upon Snake River, and to trap about its wa- 
ters in the spring, with orders to rejoin him in the month ->f 
July, at Horse Creek, in Green River valley, which he had fixet^ 
upon as the general rendezvous of his company for the ensuing^ 
year. 

Of all his late party, he now retained with him merely a small 
number of free trappers, with whom he intended to sojourn 
among the Nez Perces and Flatheads, and adopt the Indian 
mode of moving with the game and grass. Those bands, in 
effect, shortly afterwards broke up their encampments and set off 
for a less beaten neighborhood. Captain Bonneville remained 
behind for a few days, that he might secretly prepare caclics^ 
in which to deposit every thing not required for current use. 
Thus lightened of all superfluous incumbrance, he set off on 
the 20th of November to rejoin his Indian allies. He found 
them encamped in a secluded j>art of the country, at the head of 
a small stream. Considerins: themselves out of all dano;er in 
this sequestered spot, from their old enemies, the Blackfeet, their 
encampment manifested the most negligent security. Their 
lodsies were scattered in every direction, and their horses covered 



INDIAN HORSES IN CAMP. 119 



every hill for a great distance round, grazing upon the upland 
bunch grass, which grew in great abundance, and though dry, 
retained its nutritious properties, instead of losing them, like 
other grasses, in the autumn. 

When the Nez Percys, Flatheads, and Pends Oreilles are en- 
camped in a dangerous neighborhood, says Captain Bonneville, 
the greatest care is taken of their horses, those prime articles of 
Indian wealth, and objects of Indian depredation. Each warrior 
has his horse tied by one foot at night to a stake planted before 
his lodge. Here they remain until broad daylight ; by that time 
the young men of the camp are already ranging over the sur- 
rounding hills. Each family then drives its horses to some eli- 
gible spot, where they are left to graze unattended. A young 
Indian repairs occasionally to the pasture to give them water, 
and to see that all is well. So accustomed are the horses to this 
management, that they keep together in the pasture where they 
have been left. As the sun sinks behind the hills, they may be 
seen moving from all points towards the camp, where they sur- 
render themselves to be tied up for the night. Even in situations 
of danger, the Indians rarely set guards over their camp at 
night, intrusting that office entirely to their vigilant and well- 
trained dogs. 

In an encampment, however, of such fancied security as that 
m which Captain Bonneville found his Indian friends, much of 
these precautions with respect to their horses are omitted. They 
merely drive them, at nightfall, to some sequestered little dell, 
and leave them there, at perfect liberty, until the morning. 

One object of Captain Bonneville in wintering among these 
Indians, was to procure a supply of horses against the spring. 
They were, however, extremely unwilling to part with any, and it 



120 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



was with great difficulty that he purchased, at the rate of twenty 
dollars each, a few for the use of some of his free trappers, who 
were on foot, and dependent on him for their equipment. 

In this encampment Captain Bonneville remained from the 
21st of November to the 9th of December. During this period 
the thermometer ranged from thirteen to forty-two degrees. There 
wore occasional tails of snow; but it generally melted away 
almost immediately, and the tender blades of new grass began 
to shoot up among the old. On the 7th of December, however, 
the thermometer fell to seven degrees. 

The reader will recollect that, on distributing his forces, when 
in Green River valley. Captain Bonneville had detached a party, 
headed by a leader of the name of Matthieu, with all the weak 
and disabled horses, to sojourn about Bear River, meet the 
Shoshonie bands, and afterwards to rejoin him at his winter camp 
on Salmon River. 

More than sufficient time had elapsed, yet Matthieu failed to 
make his appearance, and uneasiness began to be felt on his ac- 
count. Captain Bonneville sent out four men, to range the coun- 
try through which he would have to pass, and endeavor to get 
gfeme information concerning him ; for his route lay across the 
great Snake River plain, which spreads itself out like an Arabian 
desert, and on which a cavalcade could be descried at a great dis- 
tance. The scouts soon returned, having proceeded no further 
than the edge of the plain, pretending that their horses were 
lame ; but it was evident the}^ had feared to venture, with so 
small a force, into these exposed and dangerous regions. 

A disease, which Captain Bonneville supposed to be pneumo- 
nia, now appeared among the Indians, carrying off numbers of 
them, after an illness of three or four days. The worthy captain 



A WAR SPEECH. 121 



acted as physician, prescribing profuse sweatings and copious 
bleedings, and uniformly with success, if the patient were subse- 
quently treated with proper care. In extraordinary cases, the 
poor savages called in the aid of their own doctors or conjurors, 
who officiated with great noise and mummery, but with little 
benefit. Those who died during this epidemic, were buried in 
graves, after the manner of the whites, but without any regard to 
the direction of the head. It is a fact worthy of notice, that, 
while this malady made sucii ravages among the natives, not a 
single white man had the slightest symptom of it. 

A familiar intercourse of some standing with the Pierced- 
nose and Flathead Indians, had now convinced Captain Bonne- 
ville of their amicable and inoffensive character ; he began to 
take a strong interest in them, and conceived the idea of becom- 
ing a pacificator, and healing tlie deadly feud between them and 
the Blackfeet, in which they were so deplorably the sufferers. 
He proposed the matter to some of the leaders, and urged that 
they should meet the Blackfeet chiefs in a grand pacific confer- 
ence, offering to send two of his men to the enemy's camp 
with pipe, tobacco, and flag of truce, to negotiate the proposed 
meeting. 

The Nez Peiccs and Flathead sages, upon this, held a council 
of war of two days' duration, in which there was abundance of 
hard smoking and long talking, and both eloquence and tobacco 
were nearly exhausted. At length they came to a decision to 
reject the worthy captain's proposition, and upon pretty substan- 
tial grounds, as the reader may judge. 

"War," said the chiefs, "is a bloody business, and full of 
evil ; but it keeps the eyes of the chiefs always open, and makes 
the limbs of the young men strong and supple. In war, every 

6 



122 BOiN SEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



one is ou the alert. If we see a trail, we know it must be an 
enemy ; if the Blaekfeet come to us, we know it is for war, and 
we are ready. Peace, on the other hand, sounds no alarm ; the 
eyes of the chiefs are closed in sleep, and the young men are 
sleek and lazy. The horses stray into the mountains ; the women 
and their little babes go about alone. But the heart of a Black- 
foot is a lie, and his tongue is a trap. If he says peace, it is to 
deceive ; he comes to us as a brother : he smokes his pipe with 
us ; but when he sees us weak, and off our guard, he will slay 
and steal. We will have no such peace ; let there be war !' 

With this reasoning. Captain Bonneville was fain to acquiesce ; 
but, since the sagacious Flatheads and their allies were content 
to remain in a state of warfare, he wished them, at least, to exer- 
cise the boasted vigilance which war was to produce, and to keep 
their eyes open. He represented to them the impossibility, that 
two such considerable clans could move about the country 
without leaving trails by which they might be traced. Besides, 
among the Blaekfeet braves were several Xez Perces, who had 
been taken prisoners in early youth, adopted by their captors, and 
trained up and imbued with warlike and predatory notions ; these 
had lost all sympathies w^ith their native tribe, and would be 
prone to lead the enemy to their secret haunts. He exhorted 
them, therefore, to keep upon the alert, and never to remit their 
vigilance, while within the range of so crafty and cruel a foe. 
All these counsels were lost upon his easy and simple-minded 
hearers. A careless indifference reigned throughout their en- 
campments, and their horses were permitted to range the hills at 
night in perfect freedom. Captain Bonneville had his own horses 
brought in at night, and properh* picketed and guarded. The 
evil he apprehended soon took place In a single night, a swoop 



THE HUNTER'S ELYSIUM. 123 



was made through the neighboring pastures by the Blackfeet, and 
eighty-six of the finest horses carried oiF. A whip and a rope 
were left in a conspicuous situation by the robbers, as a taunt to 
the simpletons they had unhorsed. 

Long before sunrise, the news of this calamity spread like 
wildfire through the different encampments. Captain Bonneville, 
whose own horses remained safe at their pickets, watched in mo- 
mentary expectation of an outbreak of warriors, Pierccd-nose 
and Flathead, in furious pursuit of the marauders ; but no such 
thing — they contented themselves with searching diligently over 
hill and dale, to glean up such horses as had escaped the hands 
of the marauders, and then resigned themselves to their loss 
with the most exemplary quiescence. 

Some, it is true, who were entirely unhorsed, set out on a beg- 
ging visit to their cousins, as they call them, the Lower Nez 
Perces, who inhabit the lower country about the Columbia, and 
possess horses in abundance. To these they repair when in diffi- 
culty, and seldom fail, by dint of begging and bartering, to get 
themselves once more mounted on horseback. 

Game had now become scarce in the neighborhood of the 
camp, and it was necessary, according to Indian custom, to move 
oft" to a loss beaten ground. Captain Bonneville proposed the 
Horse Prairie ; but his Indian friends objected, that many of the 
Nez Perces had gone to visit their cousins, and that the whites 
were few in number, so that their united force was not sufticient 
to venture upon the bufialo grounds, which were infested by 
bands of Blackfeet. 

They now spoke of a place at no great distance, which they 
represented as a perfect hunter's elysium. It was on the right 
branch, or head stream of the river, locked up among clifi"s and 



I'M BONNEVILLES ADVENTURES. 



precipices, whoro there >y:k< i\o diuigor tVoiu roviuir b;\uds, and 
where the Bbekfoot daro not outer. Here, thev said, the elk 
aK^imdod, and the mountain sheep were to bo soon trooping npon 
the rooks and hills. A little distanoo bevond it, also, herds of 
buffialo were to l>e met with> out of tlu> range of danger. Thither 
thev proposed to move their camp. 

The propivstition pleased the captain, who was desirous, through 
the Indians, of lHVon\ing atvpiainted with all the sein*et placvs of 
the land. Accordinglv, on the 9th of PecemWr. thev struck 
their tents, and moved forward bv short stages, as many of the 
Indians were vet t^vble frvnu the late malady. 

Following up the right fork of tlie river* they came to where 
it entered a vieep gorge of the mountains, up which, lay the se- 
cluded region so much >-aunted by the Indians. Captain Bonne- 
ville haltcil, and encamped for three days, before entering the 
gorge. In the meantime, he detached five of his free trappers to 
s<.*our the hills and kill as many elk as possible, Ivfore the main 
body should enter, as they would then W soon frightened away 
by the various Indian hunting parties. 

While thus encamjHMi, they w^ere still liable to the marauds 
of the Blackfeet, and Captain Bonneville admonishevl his Indian 
friends to be upon their guard. The Xex Perces, however, not- 
withstanding their recent K^ss, were still careless of their horses ; 
merely driving them to some secluded spot, and leaving them there 
for the night, without setting any guard ujK>n them. The con- 
sequence was a secvmd swoo|\ in which forty-one were carried off. 
This was borne with equal phiU^ophy with the first, and no effort 
was made either to reiwer the horses, or to take vengeance on 
the thieves. 

The Net Pereos, howe\-er, grew more cixutious with respect to 



AN KNKMY IN THE CAMP. 125 



their remaining horses, driving them regularly to the camp every 
(3vening, and fastening them to pickets. Captain Bonn<;ville, 
h(jwever, told thein that this was not enough. It was evident 
tUity were dogged by a daring and persevering enemy, who was 
encouraged by past impunity ; they should, therefore, take more 
tlian usual precautions, and post a guard at night over their cav- 
alry. Tlicy could not, however, be persuaded to depart from 
their usual custom. The horse once picketed, the care of the 
owner was over for the night, and he slept profoundly. None 
waked in the cainp but the gamljlers, who, absorbed in their play, 
were more dilhcult to l^e roused to external circumstances than 
even the sleepers. 

Tlie Blackfeet are bold enemies, and fond of hazardous ex- 
ploits. The band that were hovering about the neighborhood, 
finding they had such pacific people to deal with, redoubled their 
daring. The horses being now picketed before the lodges, a 
number of ]ilackfe(}t scouts penetrated in the early part of the 
night, into the very centre of the camp. Here they went about 
among the lodges, as calmly and deliberately as if at home, quietly 
cutting loose the horses that stood picketed by the lodges of their 
sleeping owners. One of these prowlers, more adventurous than 
the rest, approached a fire, round which a group of Nez Perces 
were gambling with the most intense eagerness. Here he stood 
for some time, muffled up in his robe, peering over the shoulders 
of the players, watching the changes of their countenances and 
the fluctuations of the game. So completely engrossed were they, 
that the presence of this muffled eaves-dropper was unnoticed, 
and having executed his bravado, he retired undiscovered. 

Having cut loose as many horses as they could conveniently 
carry off", the Tilackfeet scouts rejoined their comrades, and all 



126 BONNEVILLb:S ADVENTURES. 



remamed pationtly round the camp. By dogroos, the horses 
linding themsolvos at liberty, took their route towards tlieir ens- 
tomary grazing ground. As they emerged from the eamp, they 
were silently taken possession of. until, having secured about 
thirty, tlie Blaekfeet sprang on their backs and scampered ot!" 
The clatter of hoofs startled the gamblers from their game. 
They gave the alarm, which soon roused the sleepers from every 
lodge. Still all was quiescent : no marshalling offerees, no sad- 
dling of steed and da;?hing off in pursuit, no talk of retribution 
for their repeated outrages. The patience of Captain Bonneville 
was at length exhausted. He had played the part of a pacificator 
without success : he now altered his tone, and resolved, if possi- 
ble, to rouse their war spirit. 

Accordingly, convoking their chiefs, he inveighed against 
their oraveu policy, and urged the necessity of vigorous and re- 
tributive measures, tliat would check the confidence and pre- 
sumption of their enemies, if not inspire them with awe. For 
this purpose, he advised that a war party should be immediately 
sent off on the trail of the marauders, to follow them, if neces- 
sary, into the very heart of the Blaekfoot country, and not to 
leave them until tliev had taken signal vengeance. Beside this, 
he recommended the org:inizatiou of minor war parties, to make 
reprisals to the extent of the losses sustained. " Unless you 
rouse yourselves from your apathy," said he, " and strike some 
bold and decisive blow, you will cease to be considered men. or 
objects of manly warfare. The very squaws and children of the 
Blaekfeet will In? sent ag:iinst you. while their warriors reserve 
themselves for nobler antagonists.'- 

This harangue had evidently a momentary effect upon the 
pride of the hearers. After a short j^ause, however, one of the 



INDIFFERENCE OF THE NEZ PERCES. 127 



orators arose. It was bad. ho said, to go to war for more revenge. 
Tlic Great Spirit had given them a heart for peaee, not for war. 
They had h)st liorses, it was true, but they eould easily get others 
from their eousiiis, the Lower Nez Perci's, without incurring any 
risk ; whereas, in war tliey should lose men, who were not so 
readily replaced. As to their late losses, an increased watchful- 
ness would prevent any more misfortunes of the kind. He dis- 
approved, therefore, of all hostile measures ; and all the other 
chiefs concurred in his opinion. 

Captain Bonneville again took up the point. " It is true," 
said he, " tlie Great Spirit has given you a heart to love your 
friends ; but he has also given you an arm to strike your ene- 
mies. Unless you do something speedily to put an end to this 
continual plundering, I must say .farewell. As yet, I have 
sustained no loss ; thanks to the precautions wliich you have 
slighted : but my property is too unsafe here ; my turn will 
come next ; I and my people will share the contempt you are 
bringing upon yourselves, and will be thought, like you, poor- 
spirited beings, who may at any time be plundered with im- 
punity." 

The conference broke up with some signs of excitement on 
the part of the Indians. Early the next morning, a party of 
thirty men set off in pursuit of the foe, and Captain Bonneville 
hoped to hear a good account of the Blackfeet marauders. To 
his disappointment, the war party came lagging back on the fol- 
lowing day, leading a few old, sorry, broken-down horses, which 
the freebooters had not been able to urge to sufficient speed. 
This effort exhausted the martial spirit, and satisfied the wounded 
pride of the Nez Perces, and they relapsed into their usual state 
of passive indifference. 



128 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

STORY OF KOSATO, THE RENEGADE BLACKFOOT. 

If the Dieekness and long-suffering of the Pierced-noses grieved 
the spirit of Captain Bonneville, there was another individual in 
the camp, to whom they were still more annoying. This was a 
Blackfoot renegado, name(^ Kosato, a fiery, hot-blooded youth, 
who, with a beautiful irirl of the same tribe, had taken refuse 
among the Nez Perees. Though adopted into the tribe, he still 
retained the warlike spirit of his race, and loathed the peaceful, 
inoffensive habits of those around him. The hunting of the deer, 
the elk, and the buffalo, which was the height of their ambition, 
was too tame to satisfy his wild and restless nature. His heart 
burned for the foray, the ambush, the skirmish, the scamper, and 
all the haps and hazards of roving and predatory Winfare. 

The recent hoveriugs of the Blackfeet about the camp, their 
nightly prowls, and daring and successful marauds, had kept him 
in a fever and a flutter ; like a hawk in a cage, who hears his late 
companions swooping and screaming in wild liberty above him. 
The attempt of Captain Bonneville to rouse the war spirit of the 
Nez Perces, and prompt them to retaliation, was ardently sec- 
onded by Kosato. For several days he was incessantly devising 
schemes of vengeance, and endeavoring to set on foot an expedi- 



STORY OF KOSATO. 129 



tion that should carry dismay and desolation into the Blackfeet 
towns. All his art was exerted to touch upon those springs of 
human action with which he was most familiar. He drew the 
listening savages round him by his nervous eloquence ; taunted 
them with recitals of past wrongs and insults ; drew glowing pic- 
tures of triumphs and trophies within their reach ; recounted 
tales of .daring and romantic enterprise, of secret marchings, 
covert lurkings, midnight surprisals, sackings, burnings, plun- 
derings, scalpings ; together with the triumphant return, and 
the feasting and rejoicing of the victors. These wild tales were 
intermingled with the beating of the drum, the yell, the war- 
whoop and the war-dance, so inspiring to Indian valor. All, 
however, were lost upon the peaceful spirits of his hearers ; not 
a Nez Perco was to be roused to vengeance, or stimulated to glo- 
rious war. In the bitterness of his heart, the Blackfoot renegado 
repined at the mishap which had severed him from a race of 
congenial spirits, and driven him to take refuge among beings so 
destitute of martial fire. 

The character and conduct of this man attracted the attention 
of Captain Bonneville, and he was anxious to hear the reason why 
he had deserted his tribe, and why he looked back upon them with 
such deadly hostility. Kosato told him his own story briefly ; — 
it gives a picture of the deep, strong passions that work in the 
bosoms of these miscalled stoics. 

" You see my wife," said he : " she is good ; she is beautiful — 
I love her. — Yet, she has been the cause of all my troubles. She 
was the wife of my chief I loved her more than he did ; and 
she knew it. We talked together ; we laughed together ; we 
were always seeking each other's society ; but we were as in- 
nocent as children. The chief grew jealous, and commanded 

6* 



130 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



her to speak with me no more. His heart became hard towards 
her ; his jealousy grew more furious. He beat her without cause 
and without mercy ; and threatened to kill her outright, if she 
even looked at me. Do you want traces of his fury ? Look at 
that scar ! His rage against me was no less persecuting. War 
parties of the Crows were hovering round us ; our young men 
had seen their trail. All hearts were roused for action; my 
horses were before my lodge. Suddenly the chief came, took 
them to his own pickets, and called them his own. What could 
I do ? — he was a chief I durst not speak, but my heart was 
burning. I joined no longer in the council, the hunt, or the 
war-feast. AVhat had I to do there I an unhorsed, degraded 
warrior. I kept by myself^ and thought of nothing but these 
wrongs and outrages. 

" I was sitting one evening upon a knoll that overlooked the 
meadow where the horses were pastured. I saw the horses that 
were once mine grazing among those of the chief This mad- 
dened me. and I sat brooding for a time over the injuries I had 
suffered, and the cruelties which she I loved had endured for my 
sake, until my heart swelled and grew sore, and my teeth were 
clinched. As I looked down upon the meadow, I saw the chief 
walking among his horses. I fastened my eyes on him as a 
hawk's : my blood boiled ; I drew my breath hard. He went 
among the willows. In an instant I was on my feet ; my hand 
was on my knife — I flew rather than ran — before he was aware, 
I sprang upon him, and with two blows laid him dead at my feet. 
I covered his body with earth, and strewed bushes over the 
place ; then hastened to her I loved, told her what I had done, 
and urged her to fly with me. She only answered me with tears. 
I reminded her of the wrongs I had suffered, and of the blows 



STORY OF KOSATO. 131 



and stripes she had endured from the deceased ; I had done 
nothing but an act of justice. I again urged her to fly ; but she 
only wept the more, and bade me go. My heart was heavy, but 
my eyes were dry. I folded my arms. ' 'Tis well,' said I ; 
' Kosato will go alone to the desert. None will be with him but 
the wild beasts of the desert. The seekers of blood may follow 
on his trail. They may come upon him when he sleeps, and glut 
their revenge ; but you will be safe. Kosato will go alone.' 

" I turned away. She sprang after me, and strained me in 
her arms.' ' No,' cried she, ' Kosato shall not go alone ! Wher- 
ever he goes I will go — he shall never part from me.' 

" We hastily took in our hands such things as we most needed, 
and stealing quietly from the village, mounted the first horses we 
encountered. Speeding day and night, we soon reached this 
tribe. They received us with welcome, and we have dwelt with 
them in peace. They are good and kind ; they are honest ; but 
their hearts are the hearts of women." 

Such was the story of Kosato, as related by him to Captain 
Bonneville. It is of a kind that often occurs in Indian life ; 
where love elopements from tribe to tribe are as frequent as 
among the novel-read heroes and heroines of sentimental civili- 
zation, and often give rise to bloody and lasting feuds. 



132 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTUREi 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The party enters the mountain gorge. — A wild fastness among hills. — Moun- 
tain mutton. — Peace and plenty. — The amorous trapper. — A piebald wed- 
ding. — A free trappers wite — ^her gala eqtiipments. — Christmas in the wil- 
derness. 

On the 19tli of December Captain Bonneville and his confederate 
Indians raised their camp, and entered the narrow gorge made 
bj the north fork of Salmon Eiver. Up this lay the secure and 
plenteous hunting region so temptingly described by the Indians. 

Since leaving Green Kiver the plains had invariably been of 
loose sand or coarse gravel, and the rocky formation of the moun- 
tains of primitive limestone. The rivers, in general, were skirted 
with willows and bitter cotton-wood trees, and the prairies covered 
with wormwood. In the hollow breast of the mountains which 
they were now penetrating, the surrounding heights were clothed 
with pine ; while the declivities of the lower hills afforded abun- 
dance of bunch grass for the horses. 

As the Indians had represented, they were now in a natural 
fastness of the mountains, the ingress and egress of which was 
by a deep gorge, so narrow, rugged, and difficult, as to prevent 
secret approach or rapid retreat, and to admit of easy defence. 
The Blackfeet. therefore, refrained from venturing in after the 
Nez Percys, awaiting a better chance, when they should once 
more emerge into the open country. 



GOOD CHEER— MATRIMONY. 133 



Captain Bonneville soon found that the Indians had not ex- 
aggerated the advantages of this region. Besides numerous 
gangs of elk, large flocks of the ahsahta or bighorn, the mountain 
sheep, were to be seen bounding among the precipices. These 
simple animals were easily circumvented and destroyed. A few 
hunters may surround a flock and kill as many as they please. 
Numbers were daily brought into camp, and the flesh of those 
which were young and fat, was extolled as superior to the finest 
mutton. 

Here, then, there was a cessation from toil, from hunger, and 
alarm. Past ills and dangers were forgotten. The hunt, the 
game, the song, the story, the rough though good-humored joke, 
made time pass joyously away, and plenty and security reigned 
throughout the camp. 

Idleness and ease, it is said, lead to love, and love to matri- 
mony, in civilized life, and the same process takes place in the 
wilderness. Filled with good cheer and mountain mutton, one of 
the free trappers began to repine at the solitude of his lodge, and 
to experience the force of that great law of nature, " it is not 
meet for man to live alone." 

After a night of grave cogitation, he repaired to Kowsoter, 
the Pierced-nose chief ; and unfolded to him the secret workings 
of his bosom. 

" I want," said he, " a wife. Give me one from among your 
tribe. Not a young, giddy-pated girl, that will think of nothing 
but flaunting and finery, but a sober, discreet, hard-working 
squaw ; one that will share my lot without flinching, however 
hard it may be ; that can take care of my lodge, and be a com- 
panion and a helpmate to me in the wilderness." Kowsoter 
promised to look round among the females of his tribe, and pro- 



134 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

cure such a one as he desired. Two days were requisite for the 
search. At the expiration of these, Kowsoter called at his lodge 
and informed him that he would bring his bride to him in the 
course of the afternoon. He kept his word. At the appointed 
time he approached, leading the bride, a comely copper-colored 
dame, attired in her Indian finery. Her father, mother, brothers 
by the half dozen, and cousins by the score, all followed on to 
grace the ceremony, and greet the new and important relative. 

The trapper received his new and numerous family connection 
with proper solemnity ; he placed his bride beside him, and, fill- 
ing the pipe, the great symbol of peace, with his best tobacco, 
took two or three whiifs, then handed it to the chief, who trans- 
ferred it to the father of the bride, from whom it was passed 
on from hand to hand and mouth to mouth of the whole circle of 
kinsmen round the fire, all maintaining the most profound and 
becoming silence. 

After several pipes had been filled and emptied in this solemn 
ceremonial, the chief addressed the bride ; detailing, at considera- 
ble length, the duties of a wife ; which, among Indians, are little 
less onerous than those of the pack-horse : this done, he turned 
to her friends, and congratulated them upon the great alliance 
she had made. They showed a due sense of their good fortune, 
especially when the nuptial presents came to be distributed 
among the chiefs and relatives, amounting to about one hundred 
and eighty dollars. The company soon retired, and now the 
worthy trapper found, indeed, that he had no green girl to deal 
with ; for the knowing dame at once assumed the style and dig- 
nity of a trapper's wife, taking possession of the lodge as her 
undisputed empire ; arranging every thing according to her own 
taste and habitudes ; and appearing as much at home, and on 



A FREE TRAPPER'S WIFE. 135 



as easy terms with the trapper, as if they had been man and wife 
for years. 

Wo have already given a picture of a free trapper and his 
horse, as furnished by Captain Bonneville : we shall here subjoin, 
as a companion picture, his description of a free trapper's wife, 
that the reader may have a correct idea of the kind of blessing 
the worthy hunter in question had invoked to solace him in the 
wilderness. 

" The free trapper, while a bachelor, has no greater pet than 
his horse ;" but the moment he takes a wife, (a sort of brevet rank 
in matrimony occasionally bestowed upon some Indian fair one, 
like the heroes of ancient chivalry, in the open field,) he discovers 
that he has a still more fanciful and capricious animal on which 
to lavish his expenses. 

" No sooner does an Indian belle experience this promotion, 
than all her notions at once rise and expand to the dignity of her 
situation ; and the purse of her lover, and his credit into the bar- 
gain, are tasked to the utmost to fit her out in becoming style. 
The wife of a free trapper to be equipped and arrayed like any 
ordinary and undistinguished squaw? Perish the grovelling 
thought ! In the first place, she must have a horse for her own 
riding ; but no jaded, sorry, earth-spirited hack ; such as is some- 
times assigned by an Indian husband for the transportation of 
his squaw and her pappooses : the wife of a free trapper must have 
the most beautiful animal she can lay her eyes on. And then, as 
to his decoration : headstall, breast-bands, saddle and crupper, 
are lavishly embroidered with beads, and hung with thimbles, 
hawks' bells, and bunches of ribands. From each side of the 
saddle hangs an esquimoot^ a sort of pocket, in which she bestows 
the residue of her trinkets and knick-knacks, which cannot be 



136 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



crowded ou the decoration of her horse or herself. Over this 
she folds, with great care, a drapery of scarlet aud bright-colored 
calicoes, and now considers the caparison of her steed complete. 

"As to her own person, she is even still more extravagant. 
Her hair, esteemed beautiful in proportion to its length, is care- 
fully plaited, and made to tall with seeming negligence over 
either breast, ller riding hat is stuck full of party-colored 
feathers ; her robe, fashioned somewhat after that of the whites, 
is of red, green, and sometimes gray cloth, but always of the 
finest texture that can be procured. Her leggins and moccasons 
are of the most beautiful and expensive workmanship, and fitted 
neatly to the foot and ankle, which with the Indian women are 
generally well formed and delicate. Then as to jewelry : in the 
way of finger-rings, ear-rings, necklaces, and other female glories, 
nothing within roach of the trapper's means is omitted, that can 
tend to impress the beholder with an idea of the lady's high 
estate. To finish the whole, she selects from among her blankets 
of various dyes, one of some glowing color, and throwing it over 
her shoulders with a native grace, vaults into the saddle of her 
gay, prancing steed, aud is ready to follow her mountaineer * to 
the last gasp with love and loyalty.' •' 

Such is the general picture of the free trapper's wife, given by 
Captain Bonneville ; how far it applied in its details to the one in 
question, does not altogether appear, though it would seem from 
the outset of her connubial career, that she was ready to avail 
herself of all the pomp aud circumstance of her new condition. 
It is worthy of mention, that wherever there are several wives of 
free trappers in a camp, the keenest rivalry exists between them, 
to the sore detriment of their husbands' purses. Their whole 
time is expended, and their ingenuity tasked by endeavors to 



ClliaSTMAS IN Tfll^ WILDERNESS. 137 



eclipse each other in dress and decoration. The jealousies and 
heart-burnings thus occasioned among these, so styled, children of 
nature, are equally intense with those of the rival leaders of 
style and fashion in the luxurious abodes of civilized life. 

Tlie genial festival of Christinas, which throughout all Chris- 
tendom lights up the fireside of home with mirth and jollity, fol- 
lowed hard upon the wedding just described. Though far from 
kindred and friends, Captain J^onnevillc and his handful of free 
trappers were not disposed to suffer the festival to pass unen- 
joyed ; they were in a region of good cheer, and were disposed to 
be joyous ; so it was determined to " light up the yule clog," and 
celebrate a merry Christmas in the heart of the wilderness. 

On Christmas eve, accordingly, they began tlieir rude fetes 
and rejoicings. In the course of the night the free trappers sur- 
rounded the lodge of the Pierced-nose chief, and in lieu of Christ- 
mas carols, saluted him with 2^ feit dejoie. 

Kowsoter received it in a truly Christian spirit, and after a 
speech, in which he expressed his high gratification at the honor 
done him, invited the whole company to a feast on the following 
day. His invitation was gladly accepted. A Christmas dinner 
in the wigwam of an Indian chief ! There was novelty in the 
idea. Not one failed to be present. The banquet was served up 
in primitive style : skins of various kinds, nicely dressed for 
the occasion, were spread upon the ground ; upon these were 
heaped up abundance of venison, elk meat, and mountain mutton ; 
with various bitter roots, which the Indians use as condiments. 

After a short prayer, the company all seated themselves cross- 
legged, in Turkish fashion, to the banquet, which passed off with 
great hilarity. After which various games of strength and agility, 
by both white men and Indians, closed the Christmas festivities. 



13S BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XV. 

A hunt after hunters. — Hungry times. — A voracious repast. — Wintry 
weather. — Godin's River. — Splendid winter scene on the great lava plain 
of Snake River. — Severe travelling and tramping in the snow. — Manceu- 
vresof a solitary Indian horseman. — Encampment on Snake River. — Ban- 
neck Indians. — The Horse chief — his charmed life. 

The coutinued absence of Mattliieu and his party had, bv this 
time, caused great uneasiness in the mind of Captain Bonneville ; 
and. finding there was no dependence to be placed upon the per- 
severance and courage of scouting parties, in so perilous a quest, 
he determined to set out himself on the search, and to keep 
on until he should ascertain something of the object of his so- 
licitude. 

Accordingly, on the ^Gth December, he left the camp, accom- 
panied by thirteen stark trappers and hunters, all well mounted 
and armed for dangerous enterprise. On the following morning 
they passed out at the head of the mountain gorge, and sallied 
forth into the open plain. As they confidently expected a brush 
with the Blackfeet. or some other predatory horde, they moved 
with great circumspection, and kept vigilant watch in their en- 
campments. 

In the course of another day they left the main branch of 
Salmon Kiver. and proceeded south towards a pass called John 



LURKING INDIANS. 139 



Day's defile. It was severe and arduous travelling. The plains 
were swept by keen and bitter blasts of wintry wind ; the ground 
was generally covered with snow, game was scarce, so that hunger 
generally prevailed in the camp, while the want of pasturage soon 
began to manifest itself in the declining vigor of the horses. 

The party had scarcely encamped on the afternoon of the 
28th, when two of the hunters who had sallied forth in quest of 
game came galloping back in great alarm. While hunting they 
had perceived a party of savages, evidently manoeuvring to cut 
them ofi" from the camp ; and nothing had saved them from being 
entrapped but the speed of their horses. 

These tidings struck dismay into the camp. Captain Bonne- 
ville endeavored to reassure his men by representing the position 
of their encampment, and its capability of defence. He then 
ordered the horses to be driven in and picketed, and threw up a 
rough breastwork of fallen trunks of trees, and the vegetable 
rubbish of the wilderness. Within this barrier was maintained 
a vigilant watch throughout the night, which passed away without 
alarm. At early dawn they scrutinized the surrounding plain, 
to discover whether any enemies had been lurking about during 
the night : not a foot-print, however, was to be discovered in the 
coarse gravel with which the plain was covered. 

Hunger now began to cause more uneasiness than the appre- 
hensions of surrounding enemies. After marching a few miles 
they encamped at the foot of a mountain, in hopes of finding 
buffalo. It was not until the next day that they discovered a 
pair of fine bulls on the edge of the plain, among rocks and 
ravines. Having now been two days and a half without a mouth- 
ful of food, they took especial care that these animals should not 
escape them. While some of the surest marksmen advanced 



140 BONrsEVlLLKS ADVEiN TURKS. 



oautiouslv with tlioir ritlos into tho rougli p-ouiul, tour of the 
best iiiounted horsomou took tlieir stations in tho phiiu, to rim 
tlie bulls down should thov only be maimed. 

The butValo were wounded, and set otV in headlong flight. 
The half-famished horses wore too weak to overtake them ou the 
frozen ground, but succeeded in driving them on the iee. where 
they slipped and fell, and were easily dispatched. The hunters 
loadcvl themselves with beef for present and future supply, and 
then returned and encamped at the last night's tire. Here they 
passed the remainder of the day, cooking and eating with a vo- 
racity ^proportioned to previous starvation ; forgetting in the 
hearty revel of the moment, the certain dangers with which they 
were environed. 

The cravings of hunger being satisiied, they now began to 
debate about their further progress. The men were much dis- 
heartened by the hardships they had already endured. Indeed, 
two who had been in the rear guard, taking advantage of their 
position, had deserted and returned to the lodges of the Xez 
Perces. The prospect ahead was enough to stagger the stoutest 
heart. They were in the dead of winter. As far as the eye 
could reach the wild landscape was wrapped in snow ; which was 
evidently deepening as they advanced. Over this they would 
have to toil, with the icy wind blowing in their faces : their horses 
might give out through want of pasturage ; and they themselves 
must expect intervals of horrible famine like that they had 
already experienced. 

With Captain Bonneville, however, perseverance was a mat- 
ter of pride ; and having undertaken this enterprise, nothing 
could turn him back until it was accomplished : though he de- 
clares that, had he anticipated the difficulties and sutierings 

• 



A FREEZING MARCH. 141 



which attended it, ho should have flinched from the under- 
taking. 

Onward, therefore, the little band urged their way, keeping 
along the course of a stream called John Day's creek. The cold 
was so intense that they had fre({ueiitly to dismount and travel 
on foot, lest they should freeze in their saddles. The days, 
which, at this season, arc short enough even in the open prairies, 
were narrowed to a few hours by the high mountains, which al- 
lowed the travellers but a brief enjoyment of the cheering rays 
of the sun. The snow was, generally, at least twenty inches in 
depth, and in many places much more : those who dismounted 
had to beat their way with toilsome steps. Eight miles were 
considered a good day's journey. The horses were almost fam- 
ished ; for the herbage was covered by the deep snow, so that 
they had nothing to subsist upon but scanty whisps of the dry 
l)unch grass which peered above the surface, and the small 
branches and twigs of frozen willows and wormwood. 

In this way they urged their slow and painful course to the 
south, down John JJay's creek, until it lost itself in a swamp. 
Here they encamped upon the ice among stiffened willows, where 
they were obliged to beat down and clear away the snow to pro- 
cure pasturage for their horses. 

Hence, they toiled on to Grodin River ; so called after an 
Irotjuois hunter in the service of Sublette, who was murdered 
there by the Blackfeet. Many of the features of this remote 
wilderness are thus named after scenes of violence and bloodshed 
that occurred to the early pioneers. It was an act of filial ven- 
geance on the part of Godin's son, Antoine, that, as the reader 
may recollect, brought on the recent battle at Pierre's Hole. 

From Godin's liiver. Captain Jionneville and his followers 



142 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



came out upon the plain of the Three Butes ; so called from 
three singular and isolated hills that rise from the midst. It is 
a part of the great desert of Snake River, one of the most remark- 
able tracts beyond the mountains. Could they have experienced 
a respite from their sufferings and anxieties, the immense land- 
scape spread out before them was calculated to inspire admira- 
tion. Winter has its beauties and glories, as well as summer ; and 
Captain Bonneville had the soul to appreciate them. 

Far away, says he, over the vast plains, and up the steep sides 
of the lofty mountains, the snow lay spread in dazzling white- 
ness : and whenever the sun emerged in the morning above the 
giant peaks, or burst forth from among clouds in his mid-day 
course, mountain and dell, glazed rock and frosted tree, glowed 
and sparkled with surpassing lustre. The tall pines seemed 
sprinkled with a silver dust, and the willows, studded with minute 
icicles reflecting the prismatic rays, brought to mind the fairy 
trees conjured up by the caliph's story-teller, to adorn his vale of 
diamonds. 

The poor wanderers, however, nearly starved with hunger and 
cold, were in no mood to enjoy the glories of these brilliant 
scenes : though they stamped pictures on their memory, which 
have been recalled with delight in more genial situations. 

Encamping at the west Bute, they found a place swept by the 
winds, so that it was bare of snow, and there was abundance of 
bunch grass. Here the horses were turned loose to graze through- 
out the night. Though for once they had ample pastuarage, yet 
the keen winds were so intense, that, in the morning, a mule was 
found frozen to death. The trappers gathered round and mourn- 
ed over him as over a cherished friend. They feared their half- 
famished horses would soon share his fate, for there seemed scarce 



THE WARY HORSEMAN. 143 



blood enough left iu their veins to "withstand the freezing cold. 
To beat the waj further through the snow with these enfeebled 
animals, seemed next to impossible ; and despondency began to 
creep over their hearts, when, fortunately, they discovered a trail 
made by some hunting party. Into this they immediately en- 
tered, and proceeded with less difficulty. Shortly afterward, a 
fine buffalo bull came bounding across the snow, and was instantly 
brought down by the hunters. A fire was soon blazing and 
crackling, and an ample repast soon cooked, and sooner dis- 
patched, after which, they made some further progress and then 
encamped. One of the men reached the camp nearly frozen to 
death : but good cheer and a blazing fire gradually restored life, 
and put his blood in circulation. 

Having now a beaten path, they proceeded the next morning 
with more facility ; indeed, the snow decreased in depth as they 
receded from the mountains, and the temperature became more 
mild. In the course of the day, they discovered a solitary horse- 
man hovering at a distance before them on the plain. They 
spurred on to overtake him ; but he was better mounted on a 
fresher steed, and kept at a wary distance, reconnoitring them 
with evident distrust ; for the wild dress of the free trappers, 
their leggins, blankets, and cloth caps garnished with fur and 
topped off with feathers, even their very elf-locks and weather- 
bronzed complexions, gave them the look of Indians rather than 
white men, and made him mistake them for a war party of some 
hostile tribe. 

After much manoeuvring, the wild horseman was at length 
brought to a parley ; but even then he conducted himself with 
the caution of a knowing prowler of the prairies. Dismounting 
from his horse, and using him as a breastwork, he levelled his 



144 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



gun across his back, and, thus prepared for defence, like a wary 
cruiser upon the high seas, he permitted himself to be approached 
within speaking distance. 

He proved to be an Indian of the Banneck tribe, belonging : 
to a band at no great distance. It was some time bofore he ' 
could be persuaded that he was conversing with a party of white » 
men, and induced to lay aside his reserve and join them. He '■ 
then gave them the interesting intelligence, that there were two 
companies of white men encamped in the neighborhood. This , 
was cheering news to Captain Bonneville ; who hoped to find in i 
one of them the long-sought party of Matthieu. Pushing for- , 
ward, therefore, with renovated spirits, he reached Snake River < 
by nightfall, and there fixed his encampment. j 

Early the next morniug (loth January, 1833). diligent search 
was made about the neighborhood for traces of the reported par- 
ties of white men. An encampment was soon discovered, about . 
four miles further up the river ; in which Captain Bonneville, to 
his great joy, found two of Matthieu's men, from whom he learnt 
that the rest of his party would be there in the course of a few 
days. It was a matter of great pride and self-gratulation to ^ 
Captain Bonneville, that he had thus accomplished his dreary . 
and doubtful enterprise ; and he determined to pass some time 
in this encampment, both to await the return of Matthieu, and to 
give needful repose to men and horses. 

It was, in fact, one of the most eligible and delightful win- 
tering grounds in that whole range of country. The Snake 
Biver here wound its devious way between low banks through 
the great plain of the Three Butes ; and was bordered by wide 
and fertile meadows. It was studded with islands, which, like 
the alluvial bottoms, were covered with groves of cotton-wood, 



ENCAMPMENT ON SNAKE RIVER. 145 



thickets of willow, tracts of good lowland grass, and abundance 
of green rushes. The adjacent plains were so vast in extent, that 
no single band of Indians could drive the buffalo out of them ; 
nor was the snow of sufficient depth to give any serious inconve- 
nience. Indeed, during the sojourn of Captain Bonneville in 
this neighborhood, which was in the heart of winter, he found the 
weather, with the exception of a few cold and stormy days, gene- 
rally mild and pleasant ; freezing a little at night, but invariably 
thawing with the morning's sun — resembling the spring weather 
in the middle parts of the United States. 

The lofty range of the Three Tetons, those great landmarks 
of the Rocky Mountains, rising in the east, and circling away to 
the north and west of the great plain of Snake River ; and the 
mountains of Salt River and Portneuf towards the south, catch 
the earliest falls of snow. Their white robes lengthen as the 
winter advances, and spread themselves far into the plain, driving 
the buffalo in herds to the banks of the river in quest of food ; 
where they are easily slain in great numbers. 

Such were the palpable advantages of this winter encamp- 
ment ; added to which, it was .secure from the prowlings and 
plunderings of any petty band of roving Blackfeet ; the difficul- 
ties of retreat rendering it unwise for those crafty depredators to 
venture an attack, unless with an overpowering force. 

About ten miles below the encampment lay the Banneck 
Indians ; numbering about one hundred and twenty lodges. They 
are brave and cunning warriors, and deadly foes of the Blackfeet; 
whom they easily overcome in battles where their forces are equal. 
They are not vengeful and enterprising in warfare, however; 
seldom sending war parties to attack the Blackfeet towns, but 
contenting themselves with v^^ lading their own territories and 

7 



146 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

homes. x\bout one-third of their warriors are armed with fusees ; 
the rest with bows and arrows. 

As soon as the spring opens, they move down the right bank 
of Snake River, and encamp at the heads of the Boisee and Pay- 
ette. Here their horses wax fat on good pasturage, while the 
tribe revels in plenty upon the flesh of deer, elk, bear, and bea- 
ver. They then descend a little further, and are met by the 
Lower Nez Percos, with whom they trade for horses ; giving in 
exchange beaver, buffalo, and buftalo robes. Hence they strike 
upon the tributary streams on the left bank of Snake River, and 
encamp at the rise of the Portneuf and Blaekfoot streams, in the 
buffalo range. Their horses, although of the Nez Perce breed, are 
inferior to the parent stock, from being ridden at too early an 
a«ye; being often bought when but two years old, and imme- 
diately put to hard work. They have fewer horses, also, than 
most of these migratory tribes. 

At the time that Captain Bonneville came into the neighbor- 
hood of these Indians, they were all in mourning for their chief, 
surnamed The Horse. This chief was said to possess a charmed 
life, or rather, to be invulnerable to lead : no bullet having ever 
hit him, though he had been in repeated battles, and often shot 
at by the surest marksmen. He had shown great magnanimity 
in his intercourse with the white men. One of the great men of 
his family had been slain in an attack upon a band of trappers 
passing through the territories of his tribe. Vengeance had been 
sworn by the Bannecks ; but The Horse interfered, declaring 
himself the friend of white men. and, having great influence and 
authoritv among his people, he compelled them to forego all vin- 
dictive plans, and to conduct themselves amicably whenever they 
came in contact with the traders. 



THE HORSE CHIEF. 147 



This chief had bravely fallen in resisting an attack made by 
the Blackfeet upon his tribe, while encamped at the head of Go- 
din Eiver. His fall in nowise lessened the faith of his people in 
his charmed life ; for they declared that it was not a bullet which 
laid him low, but a bit of horn which had been shot into him by 
some Blackfoot marksman ; aware, no doubt, of the inefficaoy of 
lead. Since his death, there was no one with sufl&cient influence 
over the tribe to restrain the wild and predatory propensities of 
the young men. The consequence was, they had become trouble- 
some and dangerous neighbors ; openly friendly, for the sake of 
traffic, but disposed to commit secret depredations, and to molest 
any small party that might fall within their reach. 



148 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CIIArXER XVI. 

Misadventure? of Mntthieu and his party. — Return to the caches at Sahnon 
River. — Battle between Nez Percys and Blackfeet. — Heroism of a Nez 
Perce woman — enrolled anions; the braves. 

Ox tho od of Fobruarv. ^latthiou. with tho residue of his band, 
arrived ii\ eaiup. He had a disastrous story to rehite. After 
parting with Captain BonneviUe in (aeen River valley, he had 
proeeeded to the westward, keeping to tlie north of the Eutaw 
Mountains, a spur of tiie great Kooky ehain. Here he experi- 
eneed the most rugged travelling for his horses, and soon discov- 
ered that there was but little chance of meeting the Shoshouie 
bands. He now proceeded along Bear Eiver, a stream much fre- 
quented by trappers : intending to shape his course to Salmon 
River, to rejoin Captain Bonneville. 

He was misled, however, either through the ignorance or 
treachery of an Indian guide, and conducted into a wild valley, 
where he lay encamped during the autumn and the early part of 
the winter, nearly buried in snow, and almost starved. Early in 
the season he detached live men. with nine horses, to proceed to 
the neighborhood of the Sheep Kock, on Bear Kiver, where game 
was plenty, and there to procure a supply for the camp. Tliey 
had not proceeded tar on their expedition, when their trail was 
discovered by a party of nine or ten Indians, who immediately 



ENCOUNTER WITH SAVAGES. 149 



commenced a lurking purnuit, dogging them Kecretly for five or 
six days. So long as their encampments were well chosen, and 
a proper watch maintained, the wary savages kept aloof; at 
lengtli, observing that they were badly encamped, in a situation 
where they might be approached with secrecy, the enemy crept 
stcaltliily along under cover of the river bank, preparing to burst 
suddenly upon their prey. 

Tliey had not advanced within striking distance, however, be- 
fore they were discovered by one of the trappers. He immedi- 
ately, but silently, gave the alarm to his companions. They all 
sprang upon their horses, and prepared to retreat to a safe posi- 
tion. One of the party, however, named Jennings, doubted the 
correctness of the alarm, and, before he mounted his horse, 
wanted to ascertain the fact. His companions urged him to 
mount, but in vain ; he was incredulous and obstinate. A volley 
of firearms by the savages dispelled his doubts ; but so overpow- 
ered his nerves, that he was unable to get into his saddle. His 
comrades, seeing his peril and confusion, generously leapt from 
tlieir horses to protect him. A shot from a rifle brought him to 
the earth ; in his agony he called upon the others not to desert 
him. Two of them, Le Roy and Ross, after fighting desperately, 
were captured b^'^ the savages ; the remaining two vaulted into 
their saddles, and saved themselves by headlong flight, being pur- 
sued for nearly thirty miles. They got safe back to Matthieu's 
camp, where their story inspired such dread of lurking Indians, 
that the hunters could not be prevailed upon to undertake another 
foray in quest of provisions. They remained, therefore, almost 
starving in their camp ; now and then killing an old or disabled 
horse for food, while the elk and the mountain sheep roamed un- 
molested among the surrounding mountains. 



150 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



The disastrous surprisal of this hunting party is cited by 
Captain Bonneville to show the importance of vigilant watching 
and judicious encampments in the Indian country. Most of 
these kind of disasters to traders and trappers arise from some 
careless inattention to the state of their arms and ammunition, 
the placing of their horses at night, the position of their camping 
ground, and the posting of their night watches. The Indian is 
a vigilant and crafty foe ; by no means given to harebrained as- 
saults ; he seldom attacks when he finds his foe well prepared 
and on the alert. Caution is at least as efficacious a protection 
against him as courage. 

The Indians who made this attack were at first supposed to 
be Blackfeet ; until Captain Bonneville found, subsequently, in 
the camp of the Bannecks a horse, saddle, and bridle, which he 
recognized as having belonged to one of the hunters. The Ban- 
necks, however, stoutly denied having taken these spoils in fight, 
and persisted in affirming that the outrage had been perpetrated 
by a Blackfoot band. 

Captain Bonneville remained on Snake River nearly three 
weeks after the arrival of Matthieu and his party. At length his 
horses having recovered strength sufficient for a journey, he pre- 
pared to return to the Nez Perces, or rather to visit his caches on 
Salmon River ; that he might take thence goods and equipments 
for the opening season. Accordingly, leaving sixteen men at 
Snake River, he set out, on the 19th February, with sixteen others, 
on his journey to the caches. 

Fording the river- he proceeded to the borders of the deep 
snow, when he encamped under the lee of immense piles of burnt 
rock. On the 21st he was again floundering through the snow, 
on the great Snake River plain, where it lay to the depth of 



GODIN RIVER. 161 



thirty inches. It was sufficiently incrusted to bear a pedestrian ; 
but the poor horses broke through the crust, and plunged and 
strained at every step. So lacerated were they by the ice, that 
it was necessary to change the front every hundred yards, and 
put a different one in the advance, to break the way. The open 
prairies were swept by a piercing and biting wind from the north- 
west. At night, they had to task their ingenuity to provide 
shelter and keep from freezing. In the first place, they dug deep 
holes in the snow, piling it up in ramparts to windward, as a 
protection against the blast. Beneath these, they spread buffalo 
skins ; upon which they stretched themselves in full dress, with 
caps, cloaks, and moccasons, and covered themselves with nume- 
rous blankets ; notwithstanding all which, they were often severely 
pinched with the cold. 

On the 28th of February, they arrived on the banks of Grodin 
River. This stream emerges from the mountains opposite an 
eastern branch of the Malade River, running southeast, forms a 
deep and swift current about twenty yards wide, passing rapidly 
through a defile to which it gives its name, and then enters the 
great plain, where, after meandering about forty miles, it is finally 
lost in the region of the Burnt Rocks. 

On the banks', of this river. Captain Bonneville was so fortu- 
nate as to come upon a buffalo trail. Following it up, he en- 
tered the defile', where he remained encamped for two days, to 
allow the hunters time to kill and dry a supply of buffalo beef 
In this sheltered defile, the weather was moderate, and grass was 
already sprouting more than an inch in height. There was abun- 
dance, too, of the salt weed ; which grows most plentiful in clayey 
and gravelly barrens. It resembles pennyroyal, and derives its 
name from a partial saltness. It is a nourishing food for the 



i^ lK)MNb:VlLLh:*8 ADVKNTUUKS, 

horsos in tlio \viutt>r, but thov ri'jtH't it tlio iiumuMit tlie vouug 
grass jilVi>rils sulViciout jmst\inip;o 

On tlio ('>tli oi' Maroh, liavlni;" mntul siilVu'iont moat, tho party 
rosumoil tlioir inarrli, anil nu>YtHl on with ooiuparativo oaso, ex- 
ooptiuu' \vlu>ro thov luul to mako tlu>ir way througli snow-drifts 
whioli had boon pilod up by tho wind. 

On the Uth, a small oloud ot* sinoko was observed rising in 
tt doop part of the dt>lilo, Au t>noanipinout was instantly formed, 
and scouts wore sent out to rooonnoitro. They returned with 
iutelligenee that it was a hunting party of Flatlieatls, returning 
frojn the bulValo range laden with meat. Oa[)tain Bonneville joined 
them the next day, and persuaded tliem to proeeed with his i>arty 
a few miles below, to the eaehes, whither he proposed also to in- 
vito the Noic Verees, whom he hoped to tiud souiewhere in this 
ueighlnu'liood. In faet, on the llUh, he was rejoined by that 
friendly tribe, who, sinee he separated tVom tiiem on Salmon Ui- 
ver, had likewise been out to hunt the butValo, but had eontinued 
to be haunted and harassed by their old enemies the IJlaekfeet, 
who, as usual, had ri>ntrived to earry otV many ot" their horses. 

in tho course of this hunting expedition, a small band of ten 
lodges separated from the main body, in search of better pastur- 
age for their horses. About tho 1st of March, the scattered par- 
ties of Blackfoot banditti united lo the number of three hundred 
fighting men, and determined upon some signal blow. Proceed- 
ing to the foruuu" camping ground of the Nez Percv's, they found 
the K>dges deserted; upon which, they hid themselves among tho 
willows and thickets, watching for some straggler, who might 
guide them to the present "whereabout" of their intended vic- 
tims. As fortune would have it, Kosato, the Blackfoot renegade, 
was the tirst to pass along, accompanied by his blood-bought 



AN 11\\)IAJ\ JlhKUliSE. io;i 



hrido lie w:iH on hiH way from the main body of hunUirH U) the 
little band of Um lodges. The lihickfeet knew and narked him 
iiH he panned : he waH within bowHhot of their ambufteade : yat. 
much a8 they thir«ted for hiH blood, they forb^^re t/j Launeh a 
Bhaft ; sparing him iur the moment, that he might lijad them to 
their prey. S<j^;ret]y following bin trail, they (iLhOAjvurad the 
iodge« of the unfortunatfj Nez Pere^'n^ and assailed them with 
shoutH and yellings. The Nez Perce« numbered only twenty men, 
and but nine were armed with fus^^es. They showed them*elve8j 
however, as brave and skilful in war as they ha/i l>een mild and 
long-suffering in peace. Their first care was U) dig holes inside 
of their lodges ; thus ensconced, they fought desperat<jly, laying 
several of the enemy dead upon the ground : while they, though 
some of them were wounded, lost not a single warrior. 

During the heat of the battle, a woman of the Nez Perce», 
seeing her warrior badly wounded and unable to fight, seized hi* 
bow and arrows, and bravely and successfully defended his per- 
son, contributing to the safety of the whole j^arty. 

In another part of the field of action, a Nez Perce had crouched 
behind the trunk of a fallen tree, and kept up a galling fire from 
his c^jvert. A lilackfoot seeing this, procured a round log. and 
pla<;ing it before him as he lay prostrate, rolled it forward to- 
wards the trunk of the tree Ix^hind which hi-S enemy lay crouched. 
It was a moment of breathless interest ; whoever first showed 
liimself would be in danger of a shot. The Nez Perce put an 
id to the suspense. The moment the logs touched, he sprang 
upon his feet, and discharged the contents of his fusee into the 
back of his antagonist. By this time, the Bla^ikfeet liad got pos- 
session of the horses ; several of their warriors lay dead on the 
field, and the Nez Perces, ensconced in their lodges, seemed re- 



154 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



solved to defend themselves to the last gasp. It so happened 
that the chief of the Blackfeet party was a renegade from the 
Nez Perces ; unlike Kosato, however, he had no vindictive rage 
against his native tribe, but was rather disposed, now he had got 
the booty, to spare all unnecessary effusion of blood. He held a 
long parley, therefore, with the besieged, and finally drew off his 
warriors, taking with him seventy horses. It appeared, after- 
wards, that the bullets of the Blackfeet had been entirely ex- 
pended in the course of the battle, so that they were obliged to 
make use of stones as substitutes. 

At the outset of the fight, Kosato, the renegade, fought with 
fury rather than valor : animating the others by word as well as 
deed. A wound in the head from a rifle ball laid him senseless 
on the earth. There his body remained when the battle was over, 
and the victors were leading off the horses. His wife hung over 
him with frantic lamentations. The conquerors paused and urged 
her to leave the lifeless renegade, and return with them to her 
kindred. She refused to listen to their solicitations, and they 
passed on. As she sat watching the features of Kosato, and 
giving way to passionate grief, she thought she perceived him to 
breathe. She was not mistaken. The ball, which had been nearly 
spent before it struck him, had stunned instead of killing him. 
By the ministry of his faithful wife, he gradually recovered ; re- 
viving to a redoubled love for her, and hatred of his tribe. 

As to the female who had so bravely defended her husband, 
she was elevated by the tribe to a rank far above her sex, and, 
beside other honorable distinctions, was thenceforward permitted 
to take a part in the war dances of the braves ! 



OPENING OF THE CACHES. 155 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Opening of the caches. — Detachments of Cerr6 and Hodgkiss. — Salmon River 
mountains. — Superstition of an Indian trapper. — Godin's River. — Prepara- 
tions for trapping. — An alarm. — An interruption. — A rival band. — Pheno- 
mena of Snake River plain. — Vast clefts and chasms. — Ingulfed streams.— 
Sublime scenery. — A grand buffalo hunt. 

Captain Bonneville found his caches perfectly secure, and 
having secretly opened them, he selected such articles as were 
necessary to equip the free trappers, and to supply the inconsi- 
derable trade with the Indians, after which he closed them again. 
The free trappers being newly rigged out and supplied, were in 
high spirits, and swaggered gayly about the camp. To compen- 
sate all hands for past sufferings, and to give a cheerful spur to 
further operations, Captain Bonneville now gave the men what, 
in frontier phrase, is termed " a regular blow out." It was a day 
of uncouth gambols and frolics, and rude feasting. The Indians 
joined in the sports and games, and was all mirth and good fel- 
lowship. 

It was now the middle of march, and Captain Bonneville 
made preparations to open the spring campaign. He had pitched 
upon Malade River for his main trapping ground for the season. 
This is a stream which rises among the great bed of mountains 



156 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



north of tho Lava Tlain. and after a winding course, falls into 
ISnako Ixiver. Previous to his departure, the eaptain dispatched 
Mr. Oerre with a few men, to visit the Indian villages and pur- 
chase horses ; he furnished his elerk. Mr. llodgkiss, also, with a 
small stoek of goods, to keep up a trade with tho Indians during 
the spring, for sueh peltries as thev might collect, appointing tho 
caches on Sahnon lliver as the point of rendezvous, where they 
were to rejoin him on the loth of June following. 

This done, he set out for Malade Kiverwith a band of twenty- 
eight men, composed of hired and free trappers, and Indian hunt- 
ers, together with eight squaws. Their route lay up along the 
right fork of Salmon River, as it passes through the deep detilo 
of the mountains. They travelled very slowly, not above tivo 
miles a day, for many of the horses were so weak that they fal- 
tered and staggered as they walked. Pasturage, however, was 
now growing plentiful. There was abundance of fresh grass, 
which in some places had attained such height as to wave in the 
wind. The native flocks of the wilderness, the mountain sheep, 
as they are called by the trappers, were continually to be seen 
upon the hills between which they passed, and a good supply of 
mutton was provided by the hunters, as they were advancing to- 
wards a region of scarcity. 

In the course of his journey. Captain Bonneville had occasion 
to remark an instance of the many notions, and almost supersti- 
tions, which prevail among the Indians, and among some of the 
white men, with respect to the sagacity of the beaver. The In- 
dian hunters of his party were in the habit of exploring all the 
streams along which they passed, in search of " beaver lodges," 
and occasionally set their traps with some success. One of them, 
however, though an experienced and skilful trapper, was invaria- 



AN ALARM. 157 



bly unsuccessful. Astonished and mortified at nndi unusual bad 
luck, lie at longtli conceived the idea, that there was some odor 
about Ids person, of whicli the beaver got scent, and retreated at 
his approach. Ho immediately set about a thorough purification. 
Making a rude sweating house on the banks of the river, ho 
would shut himself up until in a reeking perspiration, and then 
suddenly einerging, would plunge into the river. A number of 
these sweatings and plungings having, as he supposed, rendered 
his person perfectly "inodorous," he resumed his trapping witfi 
renovated hope. 

About the beginning of April, they encamped upon Oodin's 
River, where they found the swamp full of " muskrat houses." 
Here, therefore. Captain Bonneville determined to remain a few 
days and make his first regular attempt at trapping. That his 
maiden campaign might open with spirit, he promised the Indians 
and free trappers an extra price for every muskrat thcjy should 
take. All now set to work for the next day's sport. The utmost 
animation and gayety prevailed throughout the camp. J^^very 
thing looked auspicious for their spring campaign. The abun- 
dance of muskrats in the swamp, was but an earnest of the nobler 
game they were to find when they should reach the Malade River, 
and have a ea])ital beaver country all to themselves, where they 
might trap at their leisure without molestation. 

In the midst of their gayety, a hunter came gallopirhg into 
the eamp, shouting, or rather yelling, "A trail ! a trail ! — lodge 
poles ! lodge poles !" 

These were words full of meaning to a trapper's ear. They 
intimated that there was some band in the neighborhood, and 
probably a hunting party, as they had lodge poles for an encamp- 
ment. The hunter came up and told his story. He had discov- 



158 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



ered a fresh trail, iu which the traces made by the dragging of 
lodge poles were distinctly visible. The buffalo, too, had just 
been driven out of the neighborhood, which showed that the 
hunters had already been on the range. 

The gayety of the camp was at an end ; all preparations for 
muskrat trapping were suspended, and all hands sallied forth to 
examine the trail. Their worst fears were soon confirmed. In- 
fallible signs showed the unknown party in the advance to be 
white men ; doubtless, some rival band of trappers ! Here was 
competition when least expected ; and that, too, by a party 
already in the advance, who were driving the game before them. 
Captain Bonneville had now a taste of the sudden transitions to 
which a trapper's life is subject. The buoyant confidence in an 
uninterrupted hunt was at an end ; every countenance lowered 
with gloom and disappointment. 

Captain Bonneville immediately dispatched two spies to over- 
take the rival party, and endeavor to learn their plans ; in the 
meantime, he turned his back upon the swamp and its muskrat 
houses, and followed on at •• long camps," which, in trapper's lan- 
guage, is equivalent to long stages. On the 6tli of April, he met 
his spies returning. The}' had kept on the trail like hounds, 
until they overtook the party at the south end of Godin's defile. 
Here they found them comfortably encamped, twenty-two prime 
trappers, all well appointed, with excellent horses in capital con- 
dition, led by Milton Sublette, and an able coadjutor, named 
Jarvie, and in full march for the Malade hunting ground. 

This was stunning news. The Malade River was the only 
trapping ground within reach ; but to have to compete there with 
veteran trappers, perfectly at home among the mountains, and 
admirably mounted, while they were so poorly provided with 






A RIVAL BAND. 159 



horses and trappers, and had but one man in their party 
acquainted with the country — it was out of the question ! 

The only hope that now remained, was that the snow, which 
still lay deep among the mountains of Godin River, and blocked 
up the usual pass to the Malade country, might detain the other 
party, until Captain Bonneville's horses should get once more 
into good condition in their present ample pasturage. 

The rival parties now encamped together, not out of compan- 
ionship, but to keep an eye upon)* each other. Day after day 
passed by, without any possibility of getting to the Malade 
country. Sublette and Jarvie endeavored to force their way 
across the mountain ; but the snows lay so deep as to oblige 
them to turn back. In the meantime, the captain's horses were 
daily gaining strength, and their hoofs improving, which had 
been worn and battered by mountain service. The captain, also, 
was increasing his stock of provisions, so that the delay was all 
in his favor. 

To any one who merely contemplates a map of the country, 
this difficulty of getting from Godin to Malade lliver will appear 
inexplicable, as the intervening mountains terminate in the great 
Snake River plain, so that, apparently, it would be perfectly easy 
to proceed round their bases. 

Here, however, occur some of the striking phenomena of this 
wild and sublime region. The great lower plain which extends 
to the feet of these mountains is broken up near their bases into 
crests and ridges, resembling the surges of the ocean breaking on 
a rocky shore. 

In a line with the mountains, the plain is gashed with numer- 
ous and dangerous chasms, from four to ten feet wide, and of 
great depth. Captain Bonneville attempted to sound some of 



160 BONMEVlLLE'iS ADVEMTUKES. 



these openings, but without any satisfactory result. A stone 
dropped into one of them reverberated against the sides for appa- 
rently a very great depth, and, by its sound, indicated the same 
kind of substance with the surface, as long as the strokes could 
be heard. The horse, instinctively sagacious in avoiding danger, 
shrinks back in alarm from the least of these chasms ; pricking 
up his ears, snorting and pawing, until permitted to turn away. 

We have been told by a person well acquainted with the 
country, that it is sometime* necessary to travel fifty and sixty 
miles, to get round one of these tremendous ravines. Considera- 
ble streams, like that of Godin's River, that run with a bold, free 
current, lose themselves in this plain ; some of them end in 
swamps, others suddenly disappear ; finding, no doubt, subterra- 
nean outlets. 

Opposite to these chasms. Snake River makes two desperate 
leaps over precipices, at a short distance from each other ; one 
twenty, the other forty feet in height. 

The volcanic plain in question forms an area of about sixty 
miles in diameter, where nothing meets the eye but a desolate 
and awful waste ; where no grass grows nor water runs, and 
where nothing is to be seen but lava. Ranges of mountains 
skirt this plain, and. in Captain Bonneville's opinion, were 
formerly connected, until rent asunder by some convulsion of 
nature. Far to the east, the Three Tetons lift their heads 
sublimely, and dominate this wide sea of lava : — one of the most 
striking features of a wilderness where every thing seems on a 
scale of stern and simple grandeur. 

We look forward with impatience for some able geologist to 
explore this sublime, but almost unknown region. 

It was not until the '25ih. of April, that the two parties of 



GRAND BUFFALO HUNT. 161 



trappers broke up their encampments, and undertook to cross 
over the southwest end of the mountain by a pass explored by 
their scouts. From various points of the mountain, they com- 
manded boundless prospects of the lava plain, stretching away in 
cold and gloomy barrenness as far as the eye could reach. On 
the evening of the 26th, they reached the plain west of the 
mountain, watered by the Malade, the Boisce, and other streams, 
which comprised the contemplated trapping ground. 

The country about the Boisee (or Woody) River, is extolled 
by Captain Bonneville as the most enchanting he had seen in 
the Far West : presenting the mingled grandeur and beauty of 
mountain and plain ; of bright running streams and vast grassy 
meadows waving to the breeze. 

We shall not follow the captain throughout his trapping cam- 
paign, which lasted until the beginning of June ; nor detail all 
the manoeuvres of the rival trapping parties, and their various 
schemes to outwit and out-trap each other. Suffice it to say, that 
after having visited and camped about various streams with 
various success. Captain Bonneville set forward early in June for 
the appointed rendezvous at the caches. On the way, he treated 
his party to a grand buffalo hunt. The scouts had reported 
numerous herds in a plain beyond an intervening height. There 
was an immediate halt ; the fleetest horses were forthwith mounted, 
and the party advanced to the summit of the hill. Hence they 
beheld the great plain below absolutely swarming with buffalo. 
Captain Bonneville now appointed the place where he would en- 
camp ; and towards which the hunters were to drive the game. 
He cautioned the latter to advance slowly, reserving the strength 
and speed of the horses, until within a moderate distance of the 
herds. Twenty-two horsemen descended cautiously into the plain, 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



conformably to these directions. '• It was a beautiful sight," says 
the captain, " to see the runners, as they are called, advancing in 
column, at a slow trot, until within two hundred and fifty yards 
of the outskirts of the herd, then dashing on at full speed, until 
lost in the immense multitude of bufiiiloes scouring the plain in 
every direction." All was now tumult and wild confusion. In 
the meantime. Captain Bonneville and the residue of the party 
moved on to the appointed camping ground ; thither the most ex- 
pert runners succeeded in driving numbers of buffalo, which were 
killed hard by the camp, and the flesh transported thither without 
diflioulty. In a little while the whole camp looked like one great 
slaughter house ; the carcasses were skilfully cut up, great fires 
were made, scaffolds erected for drying and jerking beef, and an 
ample provision was made for future subsistence. On the 15th 
of June, tlie precise day appointed for the rendezvous, Captain 
Bonneville and his party arrived safely at the caches. 

Here he was joined by the other detachments of his main 
party, all in good health and spirits. The cac/tcs were again 
opened, supplies of various kinds taken out, and a liberal allow- 
ance of aqua vitce distributed throughout the camp, to celebrate 
with proper conviviality this merry meeting. 



SCHEMES OF KOSATO. 1G3 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

Meeting with Hodgkiss. — Misfortunes of the Nez Perc<$s. — Schemes of Kosato, 
the renegado — his foray into the Horse Prairie. — Invasion of Blackfeet. — 
Blue John, 'and his forlorn hope — their generous enterprise — their fate. — 
Consternation and despair of the village. — Solemn obsequies. — Attempt at 
Indian trade. — Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly. — Arrangements for 
autumn. — Breaking up of an encampment. 

Having now a pretty strong party, well armed and equipped, 
Captain Bonneville no longer felt the necessity of fortifying him- 
self in the secret places and fastnesses of the mountains ; but 
sallied forth boldly into the Snake River plain, in search of his 
clerk, Hodgkiss, who had remained with the Nez Perces. He 
found him on the 24th of June, and learnt from him another 
chapter of misfortunes which had recently befallen that ill-fated 
race. 

After the departure of Captain Bonneville, in March, Kosato, 
the renegade Blackfoot, had recovered from the wound received 
in battle ; and with his strength revived all his deadly hostility 
to his native tribe. He now resumed his efforts to stir up the 
Nez Perces to reprisals upon their old enemies ; reminding them 
incessantly of all the outrages and robberies they had recently 
experienced, and assuring them that such would continue to be 
their lot, until they proved themselves men by some signal retalia- 
tion. 



164 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



The impassioned eloquence of the desperado, at length 
produced an eftect ; and a band of braves enlisted under his 
guidance, to penetrate into the Blackfoot country, harass their 
villages, carry oil' their horses, and commit all kinds of depre- 
dations. 

Kosato pushed forward on his foray, as far as the Horse 
Prairie ; where he came upon a strong party of Blackfect. With- 
out waiting to estimate their force, he attacked them with charac- 
teristic fury, and was bravely seconded by his followers. The 
contest, for a time, was hot and bloody : at length, as is custo- 
mary with these two tribes, they paused, and held a long parley, 
or rather a war of words. 

" What need," said the Blackfoot chief, tauntingly, " have the 
Nez Perces to leave their homes, and sally forth on war parties, 
when they have danger enough at their own doors ? If you want 
fighting, return to your villages ; you will have plenty of it there. 
The Blackfeet warriors have hitherto made war upon you as chil- 
dren. They are now coming as men. A great force is at hand ; 
they are on their way to your towns, and are determined to rub 
out the very name of the Nez Perces from the mountains. Re- 
turn, I say, to your towns, and fight there, if you wish to live any 
longer as a people." 

Kosato took him at his word : for he knew the character of 
his native tribe. Hastening back with his band to the Nez 
Percos village, he told all that he had seen and heard ; and urged 
the most prompt and strenuous measures for defence. The Nez 
Percos, however, heard him with their accustomed phlegm : the 
threat of the Blackfeet had been often made, and as often had 
proved a mere bravado ; such they pronounced it to be at present, 
and. of course, took no precautious. 



THE FORLORN HOPE. 165 



They were soon convinced that it was no empty menace. In. 
a few days, a band of three hundred Blackfeet warriors appeared 
upon the hills. All now was consternation in the village. The 
force of the Ncz Percus was too small to cope with the enemy in 
open fight ; many of the young men having gone to their rela- 
tives on the Columbia to procure horses. The sages met in hur- 
ried council. What was to be done to'ward off a blow which 
threatened annihilation ? In this moment of imminent peril, a 
Pierced-nosc chief, named Blue John by the whites, offered to 
approach secretly with a small, but chosen band, through a defile 
which led to the encampment of the enemy, and, by a sudden 
onset, to drive off the horses. Should this blow be successful, 
the spirit and strength of the invaders would be broken, and the 
Nez Percos, having horses, would be more than a match for them. 
Should it fail, the village would not be worse off than at present, 
when destruction appeared inevitable. 

Twenty-nine of the choicest warriors instantly volunteered to 
follow Blue John in this hazardous enterprise. They prepared 
for it with the solemnity and devotion peculiar to the tribe. Blue 
John consulted his medicine, or talismanic charm, such as every 
chief keeps in his lodge as a supernatural protection. The ora- 
cle assured him that his enterprise would be completely success- 
ful, provided no rain should fall before he had passed through 
the defile ; but should it rain, his band would be utterly cut off. 

The day was clear and bright ; and Blue John anticipated 
that the skies would be propitious. He departed in high spirits 
with his forlorn hope ; and never did band of braves make a 
more gallant display — horsemen and Iiorscs being decorated and 
equipped in the fiercest and most glaring style — glittering with 
arms and ornaments, and fluttering with feathers. 



166 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



The weather continued serene, until they reached the defile ; 
but just as they were entering it, a black cloud rose over the 
mountain crest, and there was a sudden shower. The warriors 
turned to their leader as if to read his opinion of this unlucky 
omen ; but the countenance of Blue John remained unchanged, 
and they continued to press forward. It was their hope to make 
their way, undiscovered, to the very vicinity of the Blackfoot 
camp ; but they had not proceeded far in the defile, when they 
met a scouting party of the enemy. They attacked and drove 
them among the hills, and were pursuing them with great eager- 
ness, when they heard shouts and yells behind them, and beheld 
the main body of the Blackfeet advancing. 

The second chief wavered a little at the sight, and proposed 
an instant retreat. '^ We came to fight !" replied Blue John, 
sternly. Then giving his war-whoop, he sprang forward to the 
conflict. His braves followed him. They made a headlong charge 
upon the enemy ; not with the hope of victory, but the determi- 
nation to sell their lives dearly. A frightful carnage, rather than 
a regular battle, succeeded. The forlorn band laid heaps of their 
enemies dead at their feet, but were overwhelmed with numbers, 
and pressed into a gorge of the mountain, where they continued 
to fight until they were cut to pieces. One, only, of the thirty 
survived. He sprang on the horse of a Blackfoot warrior whom 
he had slain, and escaping at full speed, brought home the bale- 
ful tidings to his village. 

Who can paint the horror and desolation of the inhabitants ? 
The flower of their warriors laid low, and a ferocious enemy at 
their doors. The air was rent by the shrieks and lamentations 
of the women, who, casting off their ornaments, and tearing their 
hair, wandered about, frantically bewailing the dead, and predict- 



LAMENTATIONS OVER THE SLAIN. 167 



ing destruction to the living. The remaining warriors armed 
themselves for obstinate defence ; but showed by their gloomy 
looks and sullen silence, that they considered defence hopeless. 
To their surprise, the Blackfeet refrained from pursuing their 
advantage : perhaps satisfied with the blood already shed, or dis- 
heartened by the loss they had themselves sustained. At any 
rate, they disappeared from the hills, and it was soon ascertained 
that they had returned to the Horse Prairie. 

The unfortunate Nez Perces now began once more to breathe. 
A few of their warriors, taking pack-horses, repaired to the defile 
to bring away the bodies of their slaughtered brethren. They 
found them mere headless trunks ; and the wounds with which 
they were covered, showed how bravely they had fought. Their 
hearts, too, had been torn out and carried ofi" ; a proof of their 
signal valor : for in devouring the heart of a foe renowned for 
bravery, or who has distinguished himself in battle, the Indian 
victor thinks he appropriates to himself the courage of the de- 
ceased. 

Gathering the mangled bodies of the slain, and strapping 
them across their pack-horses, the warriors returned, in dismal 
procession, to the village. The tribe came forth to meet them ; 
the women with piercing cries and wailings ; the men with down- 
cast countenances, in which gloom and sorrow seemed fixed as if 
in marble. The mutilated and almost undistinguishable bodies 
were placed in rows upon the ground, in the midst of the assem- 
blage ; and the scene of heart-rending anguish and lamentation 
that ensued, would have confounded those who insist on Indian 
stoicism. 

Such was the disastrous event that had overwhelmed the Nez 
Perces tribe, during the absence of Captain Bonneville ; and he 



168 BONNKVn.l.lVS AOVKNTrUKS 

wns intonnod that Kosato. the rouogado, who. boiuii; >;tatioiu>d in 
the viUaiTO. had boon provontod from goini; on tho tork>rn hope, 
was aiiain striving to ronso tho vindiotivo toolings of his adopted 
brothron. and to prompt thorn to rovongo tho shuightor of thoir 
dovotod bravos . 

Pnring his sojourn on tho Snako Rivor ph\in. Captain Bonne- 1 
viUo mado ono of his first essays at the strategy of the fnr trade, j 
There was at this time an assombhige of Nez Pereos, Flatheads, 1 
and Oottonois Indians, enoamped together upon the pU\in ; well I 
provided with boavor. whioh they had ooUootod during the spring, i 
Those they wore waiting to tratho with a resident trader of the 
Hudson's Bay Company, who was stationed among them, and 
with whom thoy wore accustomed to deal. As it happened, the 
trader was almost entirely destitute of Indian goods : his spring 
supply not having yet reached him. Captain Bonneville had 
secret inteHigonco that the supplies were on their way, and would 
soon arrive ; ho hoped, however, by a prompt move, to anticipate 
thoir arrival, and secure the market to himself. Throwing him- 
self, therefore, among the Indians, he opened his packs of mer- 
chandise, and displayed the most tempting wares : bright cloths, 
and scarlet blankets, and glittering ornaments, and every thing 
g;\y and glorious in the eyes of warrior or squaw : all. however. 
was in vain. The Hudson's Bay trader was a perfect master of 
his business, thoroughly acquainted with the Indians ho had to 
deal with, aiui held such control over them, that none dared to • 
act openly in opposition to his wishes : nay more — he came nigh 
turning the tables upon the captain, and shaking the allegiance of 
some of his free trappers, by distributing liquors among them. 
The latter, therefore, was glad to give up a competition, where 
the war was likely to be carried into his own camp. 



HUIISM>3k'» BAY TtiAVER, 



III faet. the teaden c€ tbe Hodsoii's Baj Cm^oi^ liare 
adra&taged orcr aU eomptiiU/n in tiie tfade bejosd die Boekf 

ru own herediUarj and loog-esiak^Aed power and miacsee; bat 
also dio0e of ito aotiemt riwaly but ooir intggral part, tlie £uhmiie 
Kordiweft Cfianpanj, It lias tins its laeea df UadctiL iiap fwi f , 
bimterf. and Tojagean, bom and bfoa^it 19 m its terwiee, aad 
mheti^n^ horn yreee^Ung geneiatioika a koovkd^ and ^^itifaide 
^erj UuDgemuieeted with I]idiaali£e^ and Isdiaatiafie^ In 
t:i6 proeesa of jean, tbis ecM paiij hag heem emMed to 
ramJifatioiM in ercsj direetioii: its system of 
Idanded vfonzlong, and jntiniate knovkd^ o€ die 
and neee^aties of die Marions tribes ; and of aU die 
dedOes. and fin^oiaUe bmtii^ grouids of tbe eovntiy, Tbetr 
ej^otal, also, and tbe nKUUier in wbidi tbdr si^pi^iea are disiri 
bated at Tarioos posts, or forwarded bj r^olar earsfaaS; htep 
their traders wcH aqiplaed, and eaaUe d^m to fimurii 
goods to tbe Indians at a ebe:^ rate. Tkar own, too,] 
efai^j diavn from tbe Canadas^wfa«etb^enjoj great 
&z^ eontroi, are ei^aged attbesosttrifii^vage&aadsi^potted 
at little e«>st; tbe pronaons wbidb dMj take witbdMntbdng 
Httle oMKe tban Indian com and grease Tkej are broo^i^ 
also, into tbe mott perfeet dis^^Bne and — bor dinat isn, etfe- 
ebJij when, ikar \t»d0sa bare onee g9i dbeoi to dmr seene of 
aetion in Ae beart of tbe wiMemeasu 

These aremmntmftt emnbine to gire tbe kadets of tbe Hnd- 
Li Bay Compamj a derided adfantage Ofer all tbe 
c-'^m^anies tbat ftwnf vidin dbeir range: so tbat anf 
petition witb Acti is ahMgt bop d es^ 

Skardj after OtpUun BomefiDr s infftrtna l attea^ to 

S 



170 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



ticipate in the trade of the associated camp, the supplies of the 
Hudson's Bay Company arrived ; and the resident trader was 
enabled to monopolize the market. 

It was now the beginning of July ; in the latter part of which 
month. Captain Bonneville had appointed a rendezvous at Horse 
Creek, in Grreen River valley, with some of the parties which he 
had detached in the preceding year. He now turned his thoughts 
in that direction, and prepared for the journey. 

The Cottonois were anxious for him to proceed at once to 
their country ; which, they assured him, abounded in beaver. 
The lands of this tribe lie immediately north of those of the 
Flatheads, and are open to the inroads of the Blackfeet. It is 
true, the latter professed to be their allies ; but they had been 
guilty of so many acts of perfidy, that the Cottonois had, latterly, 
renounced their hollow friendship, and attached themselves to 
the Flatheads and Nez Perces. These they had accompanied in 
their migrations, rather than remain alone at home, exposed to 
the outrages of the Blackfeet. They were now apprehensive that 
these marauders would range their country during their absence, 
and destroy the beaver : this was their reason for urging Captaiu 
Bonneville to make it his autumnal hunting ground. The latter, 
however, was not to be tempted : his engagements required his 
presence at the rendezvous in Grreen River valley ; and he had 
already formed his ulterior plans. 

An unexpected difficulty now arose. The free trappers sud- 
denly made a stand, and declined to accompany him. It was a 
long and weary journey ; the route lay through Pierre's Hole, 
and other mountain passes infested by the Blackfeet, and re- 
cently the scenes of sanguinary conflicts. They were not disposed 
to undertake such unnecessary toils and dangers, when they had 



DISPERSION OF THE CAMPS. 171 



good and secure trapping grounds nearer at hand, on the head 
waters of Salmon River. 

As these were free and independent fellows, whose will and 
whim were apt to be law — who had the whole wilderness before 
them, " where to choose," and the trader of a rival company at 
hand, ready to pay for their services — it was necessary to bend 
to their wishes. Captain Bonneville fitted them out, therefore, 
for the hunting ground in question ; appointing Mr. Hodgkiss to 
act as their partisan, or leader, and fixing a rendezvous where he 
should meet them in the course of the ensuing winter. The 
brigade consisted of twenty-one free trappers, and four or five 
hired men as camp-keepers. This was not the exact arrangement 
of a trapping party ; which, when accurately organized, is com- 
posed of two-thirds trappers, whose duty leads them continually 
abroad in pursuit of game ; and one-third camp-keepers, who 
cook, pack, and unpack ; set up the tents, take care of the horses, 
and do all other duties usually assigned by the Indians to their 
women. This part of the service is apt to be fulfilled by French 
Creoles from Canada and the valley of the Mississippi. 

In the meantime, the associated Indians, having completed 
their trade and received their supplies, were all ready to disperse 
in various directions. As there was a formidable band of Black- 
feet just over a mountain to the northeast, by which Hodgkiss 
and his free trappers would have to pass ; and as it was known 
that those sharp-sighted marauders had their scouts out, watching 
every movement of the encampments, so as to cut ofi" stragglers 
or weak detachments, Captain Bonneville prevailed upon the 
Nez Perces to accompany Hodgkiss and his party, until they 
should be beyond the range of the enemy. 

The Cottonois, and the Pends Oreilles, determined to move 



172 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



together at the same time, and to pass close under the mountain 
infested by the Bhiekfeet ; while Captain Bonneville, with his 
party, was to strike in an opposite direction to the southeast, 
bending his course for Pierre's Hole, on his way to Green River. 
Accordingly, on the 6th of July, all the camps were raised at 
the same moment ; each party taking its separate route. The 
scene was wild and picturesque : the long line of traders, trap- 
pers, and Indians, with their rugged and fantastic dresses and 
accoutrements : their varied weapons, their innumerable horses, 
some under the saddle, some burdened with packages, others fol- 
lowing in droves ; all stretching in lengthening cavalcades across 
the vast landscape, and making for different points of the plains 
and mountains. 



5 



MODE OF DEFENCE ON A PRAIRIE. 171 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Precautions in dangerous defiles. — Trappers' mode of defence on a prairie. — 
A mysterious visitor. — Arrival in Green River valley. — Adventures of the 
detachments. — The forlorn partisan — his tale of disasters. 

As the route of Captain Bonneville lay through what was consid- 
ered the most perilous part of this region of dangers, he took all 
his measures with military skill, and observed the strictest cir- 
cumspection. When on the march, a small scouting party was 
thrown in the advance, to reconnoitre the country through which 
they were to pass. The encampments were selected with great 
care, and a watch was kept up night and day. The horses were 
brought in and picketed at night, and at daybreak a party was 
sent out to scour the neighborhood for half a mile round, beating 
up every grove and thicket that could give shelter to a lurking 
foe. When all was reported safe, the horses were cast loose and 
turned out to graze. Were such precautions generally observed 
by traders and hunters, we should not so often hear of parties 
being surprised by the Indians. 

Having stated the military arrangements of the captain, we 
may here mention a mode of defence on the open prairie, which 
we have heard from a veteran in the Indian trade. When a 
party of trappers is on a journey with a convoy of goods or 
peltries, every man has three pack-horses under his care ; each 



174 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



horse laden with three packs. Every man is provided with a 
picket with an iron head, a mallet, and hobbles, or leathern fet- 
ters for the horses. The trappers proceed across the prairie in a 
long line ; or sometimes three parallel lines, sufficiently distant 
from each other to prevent the packs from interfering. At an 
alarm, when there is no covert at hand, the line wheels so as to 
bring the front to the rear and form a circle. All then dismount, 
drive their pickets into the ground in the centre, fasten the 
horses to them, and hobble their fore legs, so that, in case of 
alarm, they cannot break away. They then unload them, and 
dispose of their packs as breastworks on the periphery of the cir- 
cle ; each man having nine packs behind which to shelter himself 
In this promptly-formed fortress, they await the assault of the 
enemy, and are enabled to set large bands of Indians at defiance. 

The first night of his march. Captain Bonneville encamped 
upon Henry's Fork ; an upper branch of Snake River, called 
after the first American trader that erected a fort beyond the 
mountains. About an hour after all hands had come to a halt 
the clatter of hoofs was heard, and a solitary female, of the Nez 
Perce tribe, came galloping up. She was mounted on a mustang, 
or half-wild horse, which she managed by a long rope hitched 
round the under jaw by way of bridle. Dismounting, she walked 
silently into the midst of the camp, and there seated herself on 
the ground, still holding her horse by the long halter. 

The sudden and lonely apparition of this woman, and her 
calm, yet resolute demeanor, awakened universal curiosity. The 
hunters and trappers gathered round, and gazed on her as some- 
thing mysterious. She remained silent, but maintained her air 
of calmness and self-possession. Captain Bonneville approached 
and interrogated her as to the object of her mysterious visit. Her 



GREEN RIVER. 175 



answer was brief but earnest — " I love the whites — I will go with 
them." She was forthwith invited to a lodge, of which she 
readily took possession, and from that time forward was considered 
one of the camp. 

In consequence, very probably, of the military precautions of 
Captain Bonneville, he conducted his party in safety through this 
hazardous region. No accident of a disastrous kind occurred, 
excepting the loss of a horse, which, in passing along the giddy 
edge of time precipice, called the Cornice, a dangerous pass be- 
tween Jackson's and Pierre's Hole, fell over the brink and was 
dashed to pieces. 

On the 13th of July, (1833,) Captain Bonneville arrived at 
Green River. As he entered the valley, he beheld it strewed in 
every direction with the carcasses of buffaloes. It was evident 
that Indians had recently been there, and in great numbers. 
Alarmed at this sight, he came to a halt, and as soon as it was 
dark, sent out spies to his place of rendezvous on Horse Creek, 
where he had expected to meet with his detached parties of trap- 
pers on the following day. Early in the morning, the spies made 
their appearance in the camp, and with them came three trappers 
of one of his bands, from the rendezvous, who told him his peo- 
ple were all there expecting him. As to the slaughter among the 
buffaloes, it had been made by a friendly band of Shoshonies, 
who had fallen in with one of his trapping parties, and accom- 
panied them to the rendezvous. Having imparted this intelli- 
gence, the three worthies from the rendezvous broached a small 
keg of " alcohol," which they had brought with them, to enliven 
this merry meeting. The liquor went briskly round ; all absent 
friends were toasted, and the party moved forward to the rendez- 
vous in high spirits. 



176 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



The meeting of associated bands, who have been separated 
from each other on these hazardous enterprises, is always inter- 
esting ; each having its tale of perils and adventures to relate. 
Such was the case with the various detachments of Captain Bon- 
neville's company, thus brought together on Horse Creek. Here 
was the detachment of fifty men which he had sent from Salmon 
River, in the preceding month of November, to winter on Snake 
River. They had met with many crosses and losses in the course 
of their spring hunt, not so much from Indians as from white 
men. They had come in competition with rival trapping parties, 
particularly one belonging to the Rocky Mountain Fur Company ; 
and they had long stories to relate of their manoeuvres to fore- 
stall or distress each other. In fact, in these virulent and sordid 
competitions, the trappers of each party were more intent upon 
injuring their rivals, than benefiting themselves ; breaking each 
other's traps, trampling and tearing to pieces the beaver lodges, 
and doing every thing in their power to mar the success of the 
hunt. We forbear to detail these pitiful contentions. 

The most lamentable tale of disasters, however, that Captain 
Bonneville had to hear, was from a partisan, whom he had de- 
tached in the preceding year, with twenty men, to hunt through 
the outskirts of the Crow country, and on the tributary streams 
of the Yellowstone ; whence he was to proceed and join him in 
his winter quarters on Salmon River. This partisan appeared 
at the rendezvous without his party, and a sorrowful tale of dis- 
asters had he to relate. In hunting the Crow country, he fell in 
with a village of that tribe ; notorious rogues, jockeys, and horse 
stealers, and errant scamperers of the mountains. These decoyed 
most of his men to desert, and carry ofi" horses, traps, and accou- 
trements. When he attempted to retake the deserters, the Crow 



ARICKARA SPIES. 177 



warriors ruffled up to him and declared the deserters were their 
good friends, had determined to remain among them, and should 
not be molested. The poor partisan, therefore, was fain to leave 
his vagabonds among these birds of their own feather, and, being 
too weak in numbers to attempt the dangerous pass across the 
mountains to meet Captain Bonneville on Salmon River, he 
made, with the few that remained faithful to him, for the neigh- 
borhood of Tullock's Fort, on the Yellowstone, under the protec- 
tion of which he went into winter quarters. 

He soon found out that the neighborhood of the fort was 
nearly as bad as the neighborhood of the Crows. His men were 
continually stealing away thither, with whatever beaver skins 
they could secrete or lay their hands on. These they would ex- 
change with the hangers-on of the fort for whisky, and then revel 
in drunkenness and debauchery. 

The unlucky partisan made another move. Associating with 
his party a few free trappers, whom he met with in this neighbor- 
hood, he started off early in the spring to trap on the head 
waters of Powder River. In the course of the journey, his 
horses were so much jaded in traversing a steep mountain, that 
he was induced to turn them loose to graze during the night. 
The place was lonely ; the path was rugged ; there was not the 
sign of an Indian in the neighborhood ; not a blade of grass that 
had been turned by a footstep. But who can calculate on secu- 
rity in the midst of the Indian country, where the foe lurks in 
silence and secrecy, and seems to come and go on the wings of 
the wind? The horses had scarce been turned loose, when a 
couple of Arickara (or Rickaree) warriors entered the camp. 
They affected a frank and friendly demeanor ; but their appear- 
ance and movements awakened the suspicions of some of the 

8* 



ITO BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



veteran trappers, well versed in Indian wiles. Convinced that 
they were spies sent on some sinister errand, they took them 
in custody, and set to work to drive in the horses. It was too 
late — the horses were already gone. In fact, a war party of 
Arickaras had been hovering on their trail for several days, watch- 
ing with the patience and perseverance of Indians, for some 
moment of negligence and fancied security, to make a successful 
swoop. The two spies had evidently been sent into the camp to 
create a diversion, while their confederates carried off the spoil. 

The unlucky partisan, thus robbed of his horses, turned 
furiously on his prisoners, ordered them to be bound hand and 
foot, and swore to put them to death unless his property were 
restored. The robbers, who soon found that their spies were in 
captivity, now made their appearance on horseback, and held a 
parley. The sight of them, mounted on the very horses they 
had stolen, set the blood of the mountaineers in a ferment ; but 
it was useless to attack them, as the}- would have but to turn 
their steeds and scamper out of the reach of pedestrians. A 
negotiation was now attempted. The Arickaras offered what they 
considered fair terms ; to barter one horse, or even two horses, 
for a prisoner. The mountaineers spurned at their offer, and 
declared that, unless all the horses were relinquished, the pri- 
soners should be burnt to death. To give force to their threat, 
a pyre of logs and fagots was heaped up and kindled into a 
blaze. 

The parley continued ; the Arickaras released one horse and 
then another, in earnest of their proposition ; finding, however, 
that nothing short of the relinquishment of all their spoils would 
purchase the lives of the captives, they abandoned them to theii 
fate, moving off with many parting words and lamentable howl- 



AN ATROCIOUS PUNISHMENT. 179 



ings. The prisoners seeing them depart, and knowing the horri- 
ble fate that awaited them, made a desperate effort to escape. 
They partially succeeded, but were severely wounded and retaken ; 
then dragged to the blazing pyre, and burnt to death in the sight 
of their retreating comrades. 

Such are the savage cruelties that white men learn to prac- 
tise, who mingle in savage life ; and such are the acts that lead 
to terrible recrimination on the part of the Indians. Should we 
hear of any atrocities committed by the Arickaras upon captive 
white men, let this signal and recent provocation be borne in 
mind. Individual cases of the kind dwell in the recollections of 
whole tribes ; and it is a point of honor and conscience to re- 
venge them. 

The loss of his horses completed the ruin of the unlucky 
partisan. It was out of his power to prosecute his hunting, or 
to maintain his party ; the only thought now was how to get 
back to civilized life. At the first water-course, his men built 
canoes, and committed themselves to the stream. Some engaged 
themselves at various trading establishments at which they 
touched, others got back to the settlements. As to the partisan, 
he found an opportunity to make his way to the rendezvous at 
G-reen River valley ; which he reached in time to render to Cap- 
tain Bonneville this forlorn account of his misadventures. 



180 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Gathering in Green River valley. — Visitings and feastings of leaders. — Rough 
wai^sailing among the trappers. — Wild blades of the mountains. — Indian 
belles. — Potency of bright beads and red blankets. — Arrival of supplies. — 
Revelry and extravagance. — Mad wolves. — The lost Indian. 

The Grreen River valley was at this time the scene of one of those 
general gatherings of traders, trappers, and Indians, that we 
have already mentioned. The three rival companies, which, for 
a year past had been endeavoring to out-trade, out-trap, and out- 
wit each other, were here encamped in close proximity, awaiting 
their annual supplies. About four miles from the rendezvous of 
Captain Bonneville was that of the American Fur Company, 
hard by which, was that also of the Rocky Mountain Fur Com- 
pany. 

After the eager rivalry and almost hostility displayed by 
these companies in their late campaigns, it might be expected 
that, when thus brought in juxtaposition, they would hold them- 
selves warily and sternly aloof from each other, and, should they 
happen to come in contact, brawl and bloodshed would ensue. 

No such thing ! Never did rival lawyers, after a wrangle at 
the bar, meet with more social good humor at a circuit dinner. 
The hunting season over, all past tricks and manoeuvres are for- 
gotten, all feuds and bickerings buried in oblivion. From the 



VISITINGS AND FEASTINGS. 181 



middle of June to the middle of September, all trapping is sus- 
pended ; for the beavers are then shedding their furs, and their 
skins are of little value. This, then, is the trapper's holiday, 
when he is all for fun and frolic, and ready for a saturnalia among 
the mountains. 

At the present season, too, all parties were in good humor. 
The year had been productive. Competition, by threatening to 
lessen their profits, had quickened their wits, roused their ener- 
gies, and, made them turn every favorable chance to the best ad- 
vantage ; so that, on assembling at their respective places of 
rendezvous, each company found itself in possession of a rich 
stock of peltries. 

The leaders of the different companies, therefore, mingled on 
terms of perfect good fellowship ; interchanging visits, and regal- 
ing each other in the best style their respective camps afforded. 
But the rich treat for the worthy captain was to see the " chiv- 
alry " of the various encampments, engaged in contests of skill 
at running, jumping, wrestling, shooting with the rifle, and run- 
ning horses. And then their rough hunters' feastings and carou- 
sals. They drank together, they sang, they laughed, they 
whooped ; they tried to outbrag and outlie each other in stories 
of their adventures and achievements. Here the free trappers 
were in all their glory ; they considered themselves the " cocks 
of the walk," and always carried the highest crests. Now and 
then familiarity was pushed too far, and would effervesce into a 
brawl, and a " rough and tumble " fight ; but it all ended in 
cordial reconciliation and maudlin endearment. 

The presence of the Shoshonie tribe contributed occasionally 
to cause temporary jealousies and feuds. The Shoshonie beauties 
became objects of rivalry among some of the amorous mountain- 



182 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



eers. Happy was the trapper who could muster up a red blanket, 
a string of gay beads, or a paper of precious vermilion, with 
which to win the smiles of a Shoshonie fair one. 

The caravans of supplies arrived at the valley just at this pe- 
riod of gallantry and good-fellowship. Now commenced a scene 
of eager competition and wild prodigality at the different encamp- 
ments. Bales were hastily ripped opened, and their motley con- 
tents poured forth. A mania for purchasing spread itself through- 
out the several bands, — munitions for war. for hunting, for gal- 
lantry, were seized upon with equal avidity — rifles, hunting 
knives, traps, scarlet cloth, red blankets, gairish beads, and glit- 
tering trinkets, were bought at any price, and scores run up with- 
out any thought how they were ever to be rubbed off. The free 
trappers, especially, were extravagant in their purchases. For a 
free mountaineer to pause at a paltry consideration of dollars and 
cents, in the attainment of any object that might strike his fancy, 
would stamp him with the mark of the beast in the estimation of 
his comrades. For a trader to refuse one of these free and flour- 
ishing blades a credit, whatever unpaid scores might stare him in 
the face, would be a flagrant affront scarcely to be forgiven. 

Now succeeded another outbreak of revelry and extravagance. 
The trappers were newly fitted out and arrayed, and dashed 
about with their horses caparisoned in Indian stjde. The Sho- 
shonie beauties also flaunted about in all the colors of the rain- 
bow. Every freak of prodigality was indulged to its full extent, 
and in a little while most of the trappers, having squandered 
away all their wages, and perhaps run knee-deep in debt, were 
ready for another hard campaign in the wilderness. 

During this season of folly and frolic, there was an alarm of 
mad wolves in the two lower camps. One or more of these ani 



THE LOST INDIAN. 183 



mals entered the camps for three nights successively, and bit 
several of the people. 

Captain Bonneville relates the case of an Indian, who was a 
universal favorite in the lower camp. He had been bitten by one 
of these animals. Being out with a party shortly afterwards, he 
grew silent and gloomy, and lagged behind the rest as if he 
wished to leave them. They halted and urged him to move faster, 
but he entreated them not to approach him, and, leaping from his 
horse, began to roll frantically on the earth, gnashing his teeth 
and foaming at the mouth. Still he retained his senses, and 
warned his companions not to come near him, as he should not 
be able to restrain himself from biting them. They hurried off 
to obtain relief ; but on their return he was nowhere to be found. 
His horse and his accoutrements remained upon the spot. Three 
or four days afterwards a solitary Indian, believed to be the same, 
was observed crossing a valley, and pursued ; but he darted away 
into the fastnesses of the mountains, and was seen no more. 

Another instance we have from a different person who was 
present in the encampment. One of the men of the Bocky 
Mountain Fur Company had been bitten. He set out shortly 
afterwards, in company with two white men, on his return to the 
settlements. In the course of a few days he showed symptoms 
of hydrophobia, and became raving towards night. At length, 
breaking away from his companions, he rushed into a thicket of 
willows, where they left him to his fate ! 



164 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CH-IPTER XXI. 

Schemes of Caprain Bonneville. — The Great Sail Lake — Expedition to ex- 
plore it. — Preparations for a journey to the Bighorn. 

Captain- Boxxeville now found himself at the head of a hardy, 
well-seasoned, and well-appointed company of trappers^ all bene- 
fited by at least one year's experience among the mountains, and 
capable of protecting themselves from Indian wiles and strata- 
gems, and of providing for their subsistence wherever game was 
to be found. He had. also, an excellent troop of horses, in prime 
condition, and fit for hard service. He determined, therefore, to 
strike out into some of the bolder parts of his scheme. One of 
these was to carry his expeditions into some of the unknown 
tracts of the Far West, beyond what is generally termed the 
buffalo range. This would have something of the merit and 
charm of discovery, so dear to every brave and adventurous 
spirit. Another favorite project was to establish a trading post 
on the lower part of the Columbia River, near the Multnomah 
valley, and to endeavor to retrieve for his country some of the 
lost trade of Astoria. 

The first of the above mentioned views was. at present, upper- 
most in his mind — the exploring of unknown regions. Among 
the grand features of the wilderness about which he was roam- 
ing, one had made a vivid impression on his mind, and been 



THE GREAT SALT LAKE. 185 



clothed by his imagiuation with vague and ideal charms. This 
is a great lake of salt water, laving the feet of the mountains, 
but extending far to the west-southwest, into one of those vast 
and elevated plateaus of land, which range high above the level 
of the Pacific. 

Captain Bonneville gives a striking account of the lake when 
seen from the land. As you ascend the mountains about its 
shores, says he, you behold this immense body of water spreading 
itself before you, and stretching further and further, in one wide 
and far-reaching expanse, until the eye, wearied with continued 
and strained attention, rests in the blue dimness of distance, 
upon lofty ranges of mountains, confidently asserted to rise 
from the bosom of the waters. Nearer to you, the smooth and 
unrufiled surface is studded with little islands, where the moun- 
tain sheep roam in considerable numbers. "What extent of low- 
land may be encompassed by the high peaks beyond, must remain 
for the present matter of mere conjecture ; though from the form 
of the summits, and the breaks which may be discovered among 
them, there can be little doubt that they are the sources of 
streams calculated to water large tracts, which are probably con- 
cealed from view by the rotundity of the lake's surface. At some 
future day, in all probability, the rich harvest of beaver fur, which 
may be reasonably anticipated in such a spot, will tempt adven- 
turers to reduce all this doubtful region to the palpable certainty 
of a beaten track. At present, however, destitute of the means 
of making boats, the trapper stands upon the shore, and gazes 
upon a promised land which his feet are never to tread. 

Such is the somewhat fanciful view which Captain Bonneville 
gives of this great body of water. He has evidently taken part 
of his ideas concerning it from the representations of others, who 



1S6 BONNEVILLES ADVENTURES. 



have somewhat exaggerated its features. It is reported to be 
about one hundred and fifty miles long, and fifty miles broad. The 
ranges of mountain peaks which Captain Bonneyille speaks of. as 
rising from its bosom, are probably the summits of mountains 
beyond it. which may be yisible at a vast distance, when viewed 
from an eminence, in the transparent atmosphere of these lofty 
regions. Several large islands certainly exist in the lake : one 
of which is said to be mountainous, but not by any means to the 
extent required to furnish the series of peaks above mentioned. 

Captain Sublette, in one of his early expeditions across the 
mountains, is said to have sent four men in a skin canoe, to 
explore the lake, who professed to have navigated all round it ; 
but to have sufiered excessively from thirst, the water of the 
lake being extremely salt, and there being no fresh streams run- 
ning into it. 

Captain Bonneville doubts this report, or that the men accom- 
plished the oireumuavigatiou. because, he says, the lake receives 
several large streams from the mountains which bound it to the 
east. In the spring, when the streams are swollen by rain and 
by the melting of the snows, the lake rises several feet above its 
ordinary level : during the summer, it gradually subsides again, 
leaving a sparkling zone of the finest salt upon its shores. 

The elevation of the vast plateau on which this lake is situ- 
ated, is estimated by Capt-ain Bonneville at one and three-fourths 
of a mile above the level of the ocean. The admirable purity 
and transparency of the atmosphere in this region, allowing 
objects to be seen, and the report of firearms to be heard, at an 
astonishing distance : and its extreme dryness, causing the wheels 
of wagons to tall in pieces, as instanced in former passages of 
this work, are proofs of the great altitude of the Rocky Mountain 



TRANSPORTATION OF PELTRIES. 187 



plains. That a body of salt water should exist at such a height, 
is cited as a singular phenomenon by Captain Bonneville, though 
the salt lake of Mexico is not much inferior in elevation.* 

To have this lake properly explored, and all its secrets 
revealed, was the grand scheme of the captain for the present 
year ; and while it was one in which his imagination evidently 
took a leading part, he believed it would be attended with great 
profit, from the numerous beaver streams with which the lake 
must be fringed. 

This momentous undertaking he confided to his lieutenant, 
Mr. Walker, in whose experience and ability he had great confi- 
dence. He instructed him to keep along the shores of the lake, 
and trap in all the streams on his route ; also to keep a journal, 
and minutely to record the events of his journey, and every thing 
curious or interesting, making maps or charts of his route, and 
of the surrounding country. 

No pains nor expense were spared in fitting out the party, of 
forty men, which he was to command. They had complete sup- 
plies for a year, and were to meet Captain Bonneville in the 
ensuing summer, in the valley of Bear Biver, the largest tribu- 
tary of the Salt Lake, which was to be his point of general 
rendezvous. 

The next care of Captain Bonneville, was to arrange for the 
safe transportation of the peltries which he had collected, to the 
Atlantic States. Mr. Robert Campbell, the partner of Sublette, 

* The lake of Tezcuco, which surrounds the city of Mexico, the largest 
and lowest of the five lakes on the Mexican plateau, and one of the most 
impregnated with saline particles, is seven thousand four hundred and sixty- 
eight feet, or nearly one mile and a half above the level of the sea. 



18S BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



was at this time in the rendezvous of the Koeky Mountain Fur 
Company, having brought up their supplies. He was about to 
set off on his return, with the peltries eoUeeted during tlie year, 
and intended to proeeed through the Crow eountry. to the head 
of naviiration on the Bighorn River, and to deseend in boats 
down that river, the Missouri, and the Yellowstone, to St. Louis. 
Captain Bonneville determined to forward his peltries by the 
same route, under the espeeial eare of Mr. Cerre. By way of 
eseort. he would aeeompany Cerre to the point of embarkation, 
and then make an autumnal hunt in the Crow eountry. 



THE CROW COUNTRY. 189 



CIIAPTEIl XXII. 

The Crow country. — A Crow paradise. — Habits ol' the CrowH. — Anecdotcft 
of Rose, the renegade white man — his fights with tlie Blackfeet — his ele- 
vation — his death. — Arapooish, the Crow chief" — his eagle. — Adventure of 
Robert Campbell. — Honor among Crows. 

Before we accompany Captain Bonneville into the Crow coun- 
try, we will impart a few facts about this wild region, and the 
wild people who inhabit it. We are not aware of the precise 
boundaries, if there are any, of the country claimed by the Crows ; 
it appears to extend from the l^lack Hills to the Rocky Moun- 
tains, including a part of their lofty ranges, and embracing many 
of the plains and valleys watered by the Wind River, the Yellow- 
stone, the Powder River, the Little Missouri, and the Nebraska. 
The country varies in soil and climate ; there are vast plains of 
sand and clay, studded with large red sand-hills ; other parts are 
mountainous and picturesque ; it possesses warm springs, and 
coal mines, and abounds with game. 

But let us give the account of the country as rendered by 
Arapooish, a Crow chief, to Mr. Robert Campbell, of the Rocky 
Mountain Fur Company. 

" The Crow country," said he, " is a good country. The 
Great Spirit has put it exactly in the right place ; while you are 



190 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



in it you fare well ; whenever you go out of it, which ever way 
you travel, you fare worse. 

" If you go to the south, you have to wander over great "bar- 
ren plains ; the water is warm and bad, and you meet the fever 
and ague. 

" To the north it is cold ; the winters are long and bitter, 
with no grass ; you cannot keep horses there, but must travel 
with dogs. What is a country without horses ? 

" On the Columbia they are poor and dirty, paddle about in 
canoes, and eat fish. Their teeth are worn out ; they are always 
taking fish-bones out of their mouths. Fish is poor food. 

" To the east, they dwell in villages ; they live well ; but they 
drink the muddy water of the Missouri — that is bad. A Crow's 
dog would not drink such water. 

" About the forks of the Missouri is a fine country ; good 
water ; good grass ; plenty of bufialo. In summer, it is almost 
as good as the Crow country ; but in winter it is cold ; the grass 
is gone ; and there is no salt weed for the horses. 

" The Crow country is exactly in the right place. It has 
snowy mountains and sunny plains ; all kinds of climates and 
good things for every season. When the summer heats scorch 
the prairies, you can draw up under the mountains, where the air 
is sweet and cool, the grass fresh, and the bright streams come 
tumbling out of the snow-banks. There you can hunt the elk, 
the deer, and the antelope, when their skins are fit for dressing ; 
there you will find plenty of white bears and mountain sheep. 

" In the autumn, when your horses are fat and strong from 
the mountain pastures, you can go down into the plains and hunt 
the buffalo, or trap beaver on the streams. And when winter 
comes on, you can take shelter in the woody bottoms along the 



ROSE, THE OUTLAW. m 



rivers ; there you will find buflfalo meat for yourselves, and cotton- 
wood bark for your horses : or you may winter in the Wind River 
valley, where there is salt weed in abundance. 

" The Crow country is exactly in the right place. Every 
thing good is to be found there. There is no country like the 
Crow country." 

Such is the eulogium on his country by Arapooish. 

We have had repeated occasions to speak of the restless and 
predatory habits of the Crows. They can muster fifteen hundred 
fighting men ; but their incessant wars with the Blackfeet, and 
their vagabond, predatory habits, are gradually wearing them out. 

In a recent work, we related the circumstance of a white man 
named Rose, an outlaw, and a designing vagabond, who acted as 
guide and interpreter to Mr. Hunt and his party, on their jour- 
ney across the mountains to Astoria, who came near betraying 
them into the hands of the Crows, and who remained among the 
tribe, marrying one of their women, and adopting their congenial 
habits.* A few anecdotes of the subsequent fortunes of that 
renegade may not be uninteresting, especially as they are con- 
nected with the fortunes of the tribe. 

Rose was powerful in frame and fearless in spirit ; and soon 
by his daring deeds took his rank among the first braves of the 
tribe. He aspired to command, and knew it was only to be at- 
tained by desperate exploits. He distinguished himself in re- 
peated actions with the Blackfeet. On one occasion, a band of 
those savages had fortified themselves within a breastwork, and 
could not be harmed. Rose proposed to storm the work. "Who 
will take the lead ?" was the demand. " I !" cried he ; and put- 

* See Astoria. 



192 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



ting himself at their head, rushed forward. The first Blackfoot 
that opposed him he shot down with his rifle, and, snatching up 
the war-club of his victim, killed four others within the fort. The 
victory was complete, and Rose returned to the Crow village 
covered with glory, and bearing five Blackfoot scalps, to be erected 
as a trophy before his lodge. From this time, he was known 
among the Crows by the name of Che-ku-kaats, or '• the man who 
killed five." He became chief of the village, or rather band, and 
for a time was the popular idol. His popularity soon awakened 
envy among the native braves ; he was a stranger, an intruder, a 
white man. A party seceded from his command. Feuds and 
civil wars succeeded that lasted for two or three years, until Rose, 
having contrived to set his adopted brethren by the ears, left 
them, and went down the Missouri in 1S:23. Here he fell in with 
one of the earliest trapping expeditions sent by Greneral Ashley 
across the mountains. It was conducted by Smith, Fitzpatrick, 
and Sublette. Rose enlisted with them as guide and interpreter 
When he got them among the Crows, he was exceedingly gene- 
rous with their goods ; making presents to the braves of his 
adopted tribe, as became a high-minded chief 

This, doubtless, helped to revive his popularity. In that ex- 
pedition, Smith and Fitzpatrick were robbed of their horses in 
Green River valley ; the place where the robbery took place still 
bears the name of Horse Creek. We are not informed whether 
the horses were stolen through the instigation and management 
of Rose ; it is not improbable, for such was the perfidy he had 
intended to practise on a former occasion towards Mr. Hunt and 
his party. 

The last anecdote we have of Rose is from an Indian trader. 
When General Atkinson made his military expedition up the 



ROSE, THE OUTLAW. 193 



Missouri, in 1825, to protect the fur trade, he held a conference 
with the Crow nation, at which Rose figured as Indian dignitary 
and Crow interpreter. The military were stationed at some little 
distance from the scene of the '• big talk ;" while the general and 
the chiefs were smoking pipes and making speeches, the officers, 
supposing nil was friendly, left the troops, and drew near the 
scene of ceremonial. Some of the more knowing Crows, per- 
ceiving this, stole quietly to the camp, and, unobserved, contrived 
to stop the'touch-holes of the field-pieces with dirt. Shortly after, 
a misunderstanding occurred in the conference : some of the In- 
dians, knowing the cannon to be useless, became insolent. A 
tumult arose. In the confusion. Colonel O'Fallan snapped a pis- 
tol in the face of a brave, and knocked him down with the butt 
end. The Crows were all in a fury. A chance-medley fight was 
on the point of taking place, when Rose, his natural sympathies 
as a white man suddenly recurring, broke the stock of his fusee 
over the head of a Crow warrior, and laid so vigorously about him 
with the barrel, that he soon put the whole throng to flight. 
Luckily, as no lives had been lost, this sturdy ribroasting calmed 
the fury of the Crows, and the tumult ended without serious con- 
sequences. 

What was the ultimate fate of this vagabond hero is not dis- 
tinctly known. Some report him to have fallen a victim to 
disease, brought on by his licentious life : others assert that he 
was murdered in a feud among the Crows. After all, his resi- 
dence among these savages, and the influence he acquired over 
them, had, for a time, some beneficial efi"ects. He is said, not 
merely to have rendered them more formidable to the Blackfeet, 
but to have opened their eyes to the policy of cultivating the 
friendship of the white men. 

9 



194 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



After Rose's death, his policy continued to be cultivated, with 
indifferent success, by Arapooish, the chief already mentioned, 
who had been his great friend, and whose character he had con- 
tributed to develope. This sagacious chief endeavored, on every 
occasion, to restrain the predatory propensities of his tribe when 
directed against the white men. " If we keep friends with them," 
said he, " we have nothing to fear from the Blackfeet, and can 
rule the mountains." Arapooish pretended to be a great " medi- 
cine man ;" a character among the Indians which is a compound 
of priest, doctor, prophet, and conjurer. He carried about with 
him a tame eagle, as his " medicine " or familiar. AYith the 
white men, he acknowledged that this was all charlatanism ; but 
said it was necessary, to give him weight and influence among his 
people. 

Mr. Robert Campbell, from whom we have most of these facts, 
in the course of one of his trapping expeditions, was quartered 
in the village of Arapooish, and a guest in the lodge of the chief- 
tain. He had collected a large quantit}^ of furs, and, fearful of 
being plundered, deposited but a part in the lodge of the chief; 
the rest he buried in a cache. One night, Arapooish came into 
the lodge with a cloudy brow, and seated himself for a time with- 
out saying a word. At length, turning to Campbell, " You have 
more furs with you," said he, '• than you have brought into my 
lodge?" 

" I have," replied Campbell. 

"Where are they?" 

Campbell knew the uselessness of any prevarication with an 
Indian ; and the importance of complete frankness. He described 
the exact place where he had concealed his peltries. 

'Tis well," replied Arapooish ; "you speak straight. It is 



a )' 



vow OF ARAPOOISH. 195 



just as you say. But your cache has been robbed. Go and see 
how many skins have been taken from it." 

Campbell examined the cache, and estimated his loss to be 
about one hundred and fifty beaver skins. 

Arapooish now summoned a meeting of the village. He bit- 
terly reproached his people for robbing a stranger who had con- 
fided to their honor ; and commanded that whoever had taken 
tlie skins, should bring them back : declaring that, as Campbell 
was his guest and inmate of his lodge, he would not eat nor 
drink until every skin was restored to him. 

The meeting broke up, and every one dispersed. Arapooish 
now charged Campbell to give neither reward nor thanks to any 
one who should bring in the beaver skins, but to keep count as 
they were delivered. 

In a little while, the skins began to make their appearance, a 
few at a time ; they were laid down in the lodge, and those who 
brought them departed without saying a word. The day passed 
away. Arapooish sat in one corner of his lodge, wrapped up in 
his robe, scarcely moving a muscle of his countenance. When 
night arrived, he demanded if all the skins had been brought in. 
Above a hundred had been given up, and Campbell expressed 
himself contented. Not so the Crow chieftain. He fasted all 
that night, nor tasted a drop of water. In the morning, some 
more skins were brought in, and continued to come, one and two 
at a time, throughout the day ; until but a few were wanting to 
make the number complete. Campbell was now anxious to put 
an end to this fasting of the old chief, and again declared that 
he was perfectly satisfied. Arapooish demanded what number 
of skins were yet wanting. On being told, he whispered to some 
of his people, who disappeared. After a time the number were 



196 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

"brought in, though it was evident they were not any of the skins 
that had been stolen, but others gleaned in the village. 

" Is all right now ?" demanded Arapooish. 

" All is right," replied Campbell. 

" Grood ! Now bring me meat and drink !" 

When they were alone together, Arapooish had a conversa- 
tion with his guest. 

" When you come another time among the Crows," said he, 
'• don't hide your goods : trust to them and they will not wrong 
you. Put your goods in the lodge of a chief, and they are sa- 
cred ; hide them in a cache, and any one who finds will steal 
them. My people have now given up your goods for my sake ; 
but there are some foolish young men in the village, who may be 
disposed to be troublesome. Don't linger, therefore, but pack 
your horses and be off." 

Campbell took his advice, and made his way safely out of the 
Crow country. He has ever since maintained, that the Crows 
are not so black as they are painted. " Trust to their honor," 
says he, '' and you are safe : trust to their honesty, and they will 
steal the hair off of your head." 

Having given these few preliminary particulars, we will re- 
sume the course of our narrative. 



ROUTE TO THE CROW COUNTRY. 197 



CHiVPTER XXIIL 

Departm-e from Green River valley. — Popo Agie — its course — the rivers into 
which it runs. — Scenery of the Bluffs. — The great Tar Spring. — Volcanic 
tracts in the Crow country. — Burning mountain of Powder River. — Sul- 
phiu- springs. — Hidden fires. — Colter's Hell. — Wind River. — Campbell's 
party. — Fitzpatrick and his trappers. — Captain Stewart, an amateur travel- 
ler. — Nathaniel Wyeth — anecdotes of his expedition to the Far West. — 
Disaster of Campbell's party — A union of bands. — The Bad Pass. — The 
rapids. — Departure of Fitzpatrick. — Embarkation of peltries. — Wyeth and 
his bull boat. — Adventures of Captain Bonneville in the Bighorn Moun- 
tains. — Adventures in the plain — Traces of Indians. — Travelling precau- 
tions. — Dangers of making a smoke. — The rendezvous. 

On the 25 th of July, Captain Bonneville struck bis tents, and 
set out on liis route for the Bighorn, at the head of a party of 
fifty-six men, including those who were to embark with Cerre. 
Crossing the Green Biver valley, he proceeded along the south 
point of the Wind Biver range of mountains, and soon fell upon 
the track of Mr. Bobert Campbell's party, which had preceded 
him by a day. This he pursued, until he perceived that it led 
down the banks of the Sweet Water to the southeast. As this 
was different from his proposed direction, he left it ; and turning 
to the northeast, soon came upon the waters of the Popo Agie. 
This stream takes its rise in the Wind Biver Mountains. Its 



198 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



name, like most Indian names, is cliaracteristic. Popo, in the 
Crow language, signifying head : and Agic, river. It is the head 
of a long river, extending from the south end of the Wind River 
Mountains in a northeast direction, until it falls into the Yellow- 
stone. Its course is generally through plains, but is twice 
crossed by chains of mountains ; the first called the Littlehorn ; 
the second, the Bighorn. After it has forced its way through 
the first chain, it is called the Horn Kiver ; after the second 
chain, it is called the Bighorn River. Its passage through this 
last chain is rough and violent ; making repeated falls, and rush- 
ing down long and furious rapids, which threaten destruction to 
the navigator ; though a hardy trapper is said to have shot down 
them in a canoe. At the foot of these rapids, is the head of 
navigation ; where it was the intention of the parties to construct 
boats, and embark. 

Proceeding down along the Popo Agie, Captain Bonneville 
came again in full view of the " Bluifs," as they are called, ex- 
tending from the base of the "Wind River Mountains ftir away to 
the east, and presenting to the eye a confusion of hills and clifi*s 
of red sandstone, some peaked and angular, some round, some 
broken into crags and precipices, and piled up in fantastic masses ; 
but all naked and sterile. There appeared to be no soil tavorable 
to vegetation, nothing but coarse gravel ; 3-et, over all this iso- 
lated, barren landscape, were diffused such atmospherical tints 
and hues, as to blend the whole into harmon}- and beauty. 

In this neighborhood, the captain made search for " the great 
Tar Spring." one of the wonders of the mountains ; the medi- 
cinal properties of which, he had heard extravagantly lauded by 
the trappers. After a toilsome search, he found it at the foot of 
a sand-bluff, a little to the east of the Wind River Mountains ; 



VOLCANIC TRACTS. 199 



where it exuded in a small stream of the color and consistency 
of tar. The men immediately hastened to collect a quantity of 
it, to use as an ointment for the galled backs of their horses, and 
as a balsam for their own pains and aches. From the description 
given of it, it is evidently the bituminous oil, called petrolium, 
or naphtha, which forms a principal ingredient in the potent medi- 
cine called British Oil. It is found in various parts of Europe 
and Asia, in several of the West India islands, and in some 
places of the United States. In the state of New York, it is 
called Seneca Oil, from being found near the Seneca lake. 

The Crow country has other natural curiosities, which are 
held in superstitious awe by the Indians, and considered great 
marvels by the trappers. Such is the Burning Mountain, on 
Powder River, abounding with anthracite coal. Here the earth 
is hot and cracked ; in many places emitting smoke and sulphur^ 
ous vapors, as if covering concealed fires. A volcanic tract of 
similar character is found on Stinking Biver, one of the tributa- 
ries of the Bighorn, which takes its unhappy name from the 
odor derived from sulphurous springs and streams. This last 
mentioned place was first discovered by Colter, a hunter belong- 
ing to Lewis and Clarke's exploring party, who came upon it in 
the course of his lonely wanderings, and gave such an account of 
its gloomy terrors, its hidden fires, smoking pits, noxious steams, 
and the all-pervading " smell of brimstone," that it received, and 
has ever since retained among trappers, the name of " Colter's 
Hell!" 

Resuming his descent along the left bank of the Popo Agie, 
Captain Bonneville soon reached the plains ; where he found 
several large streams entering from the west. Among these was 
Wind River, which gives its name to the mountains among which 



200 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



it takes its rise. This is one of the most important streams of 
the Crow country. The river being much swollen. Captain 
Bonneville halted at its mouth, and sent out scouts to look for a 
fording place. While thus encamped, he beheld in the course of 
the afternoon, a long line of horsemen descending the slope of 
the hills on the opposite side of the Popo Agie. His first idea 
was. that they were Indians : he soon discovered, however, that 
they were white men, and. by the long line of pack-horses, ascer- 
tained them to be the convoy of Campbell, which, having de- 
scended the Sweet Water, was now on its way to the Horn 
Eiver. 

The two parties came together two or three days afterwards, 
on the 4th of August, after having passed through the gap of 
the Littlehorn Mountain. In company with Campbell's convoy, 
was a trapping party of the Eocky Mountain Company, headed 
by Fitzpatrick ; who. after Campbells embarkation on the Big- 
horn, was to take charge of all the horses, and proceed on a 
trapping campaign. There were, moreover, two chance compan- 
ions in the rival camp. One was Captain Stewart, of the British 
army, a gentleman .of noble connections, who was amusing him- 
self by a wandering tour in the Far West : in the course of 
which, he had lived in hunter's style ; accompanying various 
bands of traders, trappers, and Indians : and manifesting that 
relish for the wilderness that belongs to men of game spirit. 

The other casual inmate of Mr. Campbell's camp was Mr. 
Nathaniel Wyeth : the self-same leader of the band of New Eng- 
land salmon fishers, with whom we parted company in the valley 
of Pierre's Hole, after the battle with the Blackfeet. A few 
days after that afi":iir. he again set out from the rendezvous in 
company with 3Iilton Sublette and his brigade of trappers. On 



MR. WYETH AND HIS BAND. 201 



his march, he visited the battle ground, and penetrated to the 
deserted fort of the Blackfeet in the midst of the wood. It was 
a dismal scene. The fort was strewed witli the mouldering 
bodies of the slain ; while vultures soared aloft, or sat brooding 
on the trees around ; and Indian dogs howled about the place, 
as if bewailing the death of their masters. Wyeth travelled for 
a considerable distance to the southwest, in company with Milton 
Sublette, when they separated ; and the former, with eleven men, 
the remnant of his band, pushed on for Snake River ; kept down 
the course of that eventful stream ; traversed the Blue Mountains, 
trapping beaver occasionally by the way, and finally, after hard- 
ships of all kinds, arrived, on the 29tli of October, at Vancouver, 
on the Columbia, the main factory of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany. 

He experienced hospitable treatment at the hands of the 
agents of that company ; but his men, heartily tired of wandering 
in the wilderness, or tempted by other prospects, refused, for the 
most part, to continue any longer in his service. Some set off for 
the Sandwich Islands ; some entered into other employ. Wyeth 
found, too, that a great part of the goods ht had brought with 
him were unfitted for the Indian trade ; in a word, his expedi- 
tion, undertaken entirely on his own resources, proved a failure. 
He lost every thing invested in it, but his hopes. These were as 
strong as ever. He took note of every thing, therefore, that 
could be of service to him in the further prosecution of his pro- 
ject ; collected all the information within his reach, and then set 
off, accompanied by merely two men, on his return journey across 
the continent. He had got thus far " by hook and by crook," a 
mode in which a New England man can make his way all over 
the world, and through all kinds of difficulties, and was now 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



bound for Boston; in full confidence of being able to form a 
company for the salmon fishery and fur trade of the Columbia. 

The party of Mr. Campbell had met with a disaster in the 
course of their route from the Sweet Water. Three or four of 
the men, who were reconnoitering the country in the advance of 
the main body, were visited one night in their camp, by fifteen or 
twenty Shoshonies. Considering this tribe as perfectly friendly, 
they received them in the most cordial and confiding manner. 
In the course of the night, the man on guard near the horses fell 
sound asleep ; upon which a Shoshonie shot him in the head, and 
nearly killed him. The savages then made off with the horses, 
leaving the rest of the party to find their way to the main body 
on foot. 

The rival companies of Captain Bonneville and Mr. Campbell, 
thus fortuitously brought together, now prosecuted their journey 
in great good fellowship ; forming a joint camp of about a hun- 
dred men. The captain, however, began to entertain doubts that 
Fitzpatrick and his trappers, who kept profound silence as to 
their future movements, intended to hunt the same grounds 
which he had selected for his autumnal campaign ; which lay to 
the west of the Horn River, on its tributary streams. In the 
course of his march, therefore, he secretl}^ detached a small party 
of trappers, to make their way to those hunting grounds, while 
he continued on with the main body ; appointing a rendezvous, 
at the next full moon, about the 28th of August, at a place called 
the Medicine Lodge. 

On reaching the second chain, called the Bighorn Mountains, 
where the river forced its impetuous way through a precipitous 
defile, with cascades and rapids, the travellers were obliged to 
leave its banks, and traverse the mountains by a rugged and 



BULL-BOATS— EMBARKATION S. 



frightful route, emphatically called the " Bad Pass." Descending 
the opposite side, they again made for the river banks ; and about 
the middle of August, reached the point below the rapids, where 
the river becomes navigable for boats. Here Captain Bonneville 
detached a second party of trappers, consisting of ten men, to 
seek and join those whom he had detached while on the route 
appointing for them the same rendezvous, (at the Medicine 
Lodge,) on the 28th of August. 

All hands now set to work to construct '' bull boats," as they 
are technically called ; a light, fragile kind of bark, characteristic 
of the expedients and inventions of the wilderness ; being formed 
of buffalo skins, stretched on frames. They are sometimes, also, 
called skin boats. Wyeth was the first ready ; and, with his 
usual promptness and hardihood, launched his frail bark, singly, 
on this wild and hazardous voyage, down an almost interminable 
succession of rivers, winding through countries teeming with 
savage hordes. Milton Sublette, his former fellow traveller, and 
his companion in the battle scenes of Pierre's Hole, took passage 
in his boat. His crew consisted of two white men, and two 
Indians. We shall hear further of Wyeth, and his wild voyage, 
in the course of our wanderings about the Far West. 

The remaining parties soon completed their several arma- 
ments. That of Captain Bonneville was composed of three bull 
boats, in which he embarked all his peltries, giving them in 
charge of Mr. Cerre, with a party of thirty-six men. Mr. Camp- 
bell took command of his own boats, and the little squadrons 
were soon gliding down the bright current of the Bighorn. 

The secret precautions which Captain Bonneville had taken, 
to throw his men first into the trapping ground west of the 
Bighorn, were, probably, superfluous. It did not appear that 



204 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



Fitzpatrick had intended to hunt in that direction. The moment 
Mr. Campbell and his men embarked with the peltries, Fitzpat- 
rick took charge of all the horses, amounting to above a hundred, 
and struck oS to the east, to trap upon Littlehorn, Powder, and 
Tongue Rivers. He was accompanied by Captain Stewart, who 
was desirous of having a range about the Crow country. Of the 
adventures they met with in that region of vagabonds and horse 
stealers, we shall have something to relate hereafter. 

Captain Bonneville being now left to prosecute his trapping 
campaign without rivalry, set out, on the 1 7th of August, for the 
rendezvous at Medicine Lodge. He had but four men remaining 
with him, and forty-six horses to take care of ; with these he had 
to make his way over mountain and plain, through a marauding, 
horse-stealing region, full of peril for a numerous cavalcade so 
slightly manned. He addressed himself to his difficult journey, 
however, with his usual alacrity of spirit. 

In the afternoon of his first day's journey, on drawing near 
to the Bighorn Mountain, on the summit of which he intended 
to encamp for the night, he observed, to his disquiet, a cloud of 
smoke rising from its base. He came to a halt, and watched it 
anxiously. It was very irregular ; sometimes it would almost 
die away ; and then would mount up in heavy volumes. There 
was, apparently, a large party encamped there ; probably, some 
ruffian horde of Blackfeet. At any rate, it would not do for so 
small a number of men, with so numerous a cavalcade, to venture 
within sight of any wandering tribe. Captain Bonneville and 
his companions, therefore, avoided this dangerous neighborhood ; 
and, proceeding with extreme caution, reached the summit of the 
mountain, apparently without being discovered. Here they found 
a deserted Blackfoot fort, in which they ensconced themselves ; 



SIGNS OF INDIANS. 205 



disposed of every thing as securely as possible, and passed the 
night without molestation. Early the next morning they de- 
scended the south side of the mountain into the great plain ex- 
tending between it and the Littlehorn range. Here they soon 
came upon numerous footprints, and the carcasses of buffaloes ; 
by which they knew there must be Indians not far off. Captain 
Bonneville now began to feel solicitude about the two small par- 
ties of trappers which he had detached ; lest the Indians should 
have come upon them before they had united their forces. But 
he felt still more solicitude about his own party ; for it was hardly 
to be expected he could traverse these naked plains undiscovered, 
when Indians were abroad ; and should he be discovered, his 
chance would be a desperate one. Every thing now depended 
upon the greatest circumspection. It was dangerous to discharge 
a gun, or light a fire, or make the least noise, where such quick- 
eared and quick-sighted enemies were at hand. In the course of 
the day they saw indubitable signs that the buffalo had been 
roaming there in great numbers, and had recently been frightened 
away. That night they encamped with the greatest care ; and 
threw up a strong breastwork for their protection. 

For the two succeeding days they pressed forward rapidly, 
but cautiously, across the great plain ; fording the tributary 
streams of the Horn Biver ; encamping one night among thickets ; 
the next, on an island ; meeting, repeatedly, with traces of In- 
dians ; and now and then, in passing through a defile, experien- 
cing alarms that induced them to cock their rifles. 

On the last day of their march hunger got the better of their 
caution, and they shot a fine buffalo bull at the risk of being be- 
trayed by the report. They did not halt to make a meal, but 
carried the meat on with them to the place of rendezvous, the 



206 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



Medicine Lodge, where they arrived safely, in the evening, and 
celebrated their arrival by a hearty supper. 

The next morning they erected a strong pen for the horses, 
and a fortress of logs for themselves ; and continued to observe 
the greatest caution. Their cooking was all done at mid-day, 
when the fire makes no glare, and a moderate smoke cannot be 
perceived at any great distance. In the morning and the eve- 
ning, when the wind is lulled, the smoke rises perpendicularly in 
a blue column, or floats in light clouds above the tree-tops, and 
can be discovered from afar. 

In this way the little party remained for several days, cau- 
tiously encamped, until, on the 29th of August, the two detach- 
ments they had been expecting, arrived together at the rendez- 
vous. They, as usual, had their several tales of adventures to 
relate to the captain, which we will furnish to the reader in the 
next chapter. 



THE BALAAMITE MULE. 207 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Adventures of the party of ten. — The Balaamite mule. — A dead point. — The 
mysterious elks. — A night attack. — A retreat. — Travelling under an alarm. 
— A joyful meeting. — Adventures of the other party. — A decoy elk — re- 
treat to an island. — A savage dance of triumph. — Arrival at Wind River. 

The adventures of the detachment of ten are the first in order. 
These trappers, when they separated from Captain Bonneville at 
the place where the furs were embarked, proceeded to the foot 
of the Bighorn Mountain, and having encamped, one of them 
mounted his mule and went out to set his trap in a neighboring 
stream. He had not proceeded far when his steed came to a full 
stop. The trapper kicked and cudgelled, but to every blow and 
kick the mule snorted and kicked up, but still refused to budge 
an inch. The rider now cast his eyes warily around in search of 
some cause for this demur, when, to his dismay, he discovered an 
Indian fort within gunshot distance, lowering through the twi- 
light. In a twinkling he wheeled about ; his mule now seemed 
as eager to get on as himself, and in a few moments brought him, 
clattering with his traps, among his comrades. He was jeered at 
for his alacrity in retreating ; his report was treated as a false 
alarm ; his brother trappers contented themselves with reconnoi- 
tring the fort at a distance, and pronounced that it was deserted. 
As night set in, the usual precaution, enjoined by Captain 



208 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



Bonneville on his men, was observed. The horses were brought 
in and tied, and a guard stationed over them. This done, the 
men wrapped themselves in their blankets, stretched themselves 
before the fire, and being fatigued with a long day's march, and 
gorged with a hearty supper, were soon in a profound sleep. 

The camp fires gradually died away ; all was dark and silent ; 
the sentinel stationed to watch the horses had marched as far, 
and supped as heartily as any of his companions, and while they 
snored, he began to nod at his post. After a time, a low tramp- 
ling noise reached his ear. He half opened his closing eyes, and 
beheld two or three elks moving about the lodges, picking, and 
smelling, and grazing here and there. The sight of elk within 
the purlieus of the camp caused some little surprise ; but, having 
had his supper, he cared not for elk meat, and, suflFering them to 
graze about unmolested, soon relapsed into a doze. 

Suddenly, before daybreak, a discharge of firearms, and a 
struggle and tramp of horses, made every one start to his feet. 
The first move was to secure the horses. Some were gone : others 
were struggling, and kicking, and trembling, for there was a hor- 
rible uproar of whoops, and yells, and firearms. Several trappers 
stole quietly from the camp, and succeeded in driving in the 
horses which had broken away ; the rest were tethered still more 
strongly. A breastwork was thrown up of saddles, baggage, and 
camp furniture, and all hands waited anxiously for daylight. 
The Indians, in the meantime, collected on a neighboring height, 
kept up the most horrible clamor, in hopes of striking a panic 
into the camp, or frightening off the horses. When the day 
dawned, the trappers attacked them briskly and drove them to 
some distance. A desultory firing" was kept up for an hour, when 
the Indians, seeing nothing was to be gained, gave up the contest 



TRAVELLING AMID DANGERS. 209 



and retired. They proved to be a war party of Blackfeet, who, 
while in search of the Crow tribe, had fallen upon the trail of 
Captain Bonneville on the Popo Agie. and dogged him to the 
Bighorn ; but had been completely baffled by his vigilance. 
They had then waylaid the present detachment, and were actually 
housed in perfect silence within their fort, when the mule of the 
trapper made such a dead point. 

The savages went off uttering the wildest denunciations of 
hostility, mingled with opprobrious terms in broken English, and 
gesticulations of the most insulting kind. 

In this melee, one white man was wounded, and two horses 
were killed. On preparing the morning's meal, however, a num- 
ber of cups, knives, and other articles were missing, which had, 
doubtless, been carried off by the fictitious elk, during the slum- 
ber of the very sagacious sentinel. 

As the Indians had gone off in the direction which the trap- 
pers had intended to travel, the latter changed their route, and 
pushed forward rapidly through the •• Bad Pass," nor halted un- 
til night ; when, supposing themselves out of the reach of the 
enemy, they contented themselves with tying up their horses and 
posting a guard. They had scarce laid down to sleep, when* a 
dog strayed into the camp with a small pack of moccasons tied 
upon his back ; for dogs are made to carry burdens among the 
Indians. The sentinel, more knowing than he of the preceding 
night, awoke his companions and reported the circumstance. It 
was evident that Indians were at hand. All were instantly at 
work : a strong pen was soon constructed for the horses, after 
completing which, they resumed their slumbers with the compo- 
sure of men long inured to dangers. 

In the next night, the prowling of dogs about the camp, and 



210 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



various suspicious noises, showed that Indians were still hovering 
about them. Hurrying on by long marches, they at length fell 
upon a trail, which, with the experienced eye of veteran woodmen, 
they soon discovered to be that of the party of trappers detached 
by Captain Bonneville when on his march, and which they were 
sent to join. They likewise ascertained from various signs, that 
this party had suffered some maltreatment from the Indians. They 
now pursued the trail with intense anxiety ; it carried them to 
the banks of the stream called the Gray Bull, and down along its 
course, until they came to where it empties into the Horn River. 
Here, to their great joy, they discovered the comrades of whom 
they were in search, all strongly fortified, and in a state of great 
watchfulness and anxiety. 

We now take up the adventures of this first detachment of 
trappers. These men, after parting with the main body under 
Captain Bonneville, had proceeded slowly for several days up the 
course of the river, trapping beaver as they went. One morning, 
as they were about to visit their traps, one of the camp-keepers 
pointed to a fine elk, grazing at a distance, and requested them 
to shoot it. Three of the trappers started off for the purpose. 
In passing a thicket, they were fired upon by some savages in 
ambush, and at the same time, the pretended elk, throwing off 
his hide and his horn, started forth an Indian warrior. 

One of the three trappers had been brought down by the vol- 
ley ; the others fled to the camp, and all hands, seizing up what- 
ever they could carry off, retreated to a small island m the river, 
and took refuge among the willows. Here they were soon joined 
by their comrade who had fallen, but who had merely been 
wounded in the neck. 

In the meantime, the Indians took possession of the deserted 



AN INSULTING WAR DANCE. 211 



camp, with all the traps, accoutrements, and horses. While they 
were busy among the spoils, a solitary trapper, who had been ab- 
sent at his work, came sauntering to the camp with his traps on 
his back. He had approached near by, when an Indian came for- 
ward and motioned him to keep away ; at the same moment, he 
was perceived by his comrades on the island, and warned of his 
j danger with loud cries. The poor fellow stood for a moment, 
' bewildered and aghast, then dropping his traps, wheeled and 
made off at full speed, quickened by a sportive volley which the 
Indians rattled after him. 

In high good humor with their easy triumph, the savages now 

formed a circle round the fire and performed a war dance, with 

the unlucky trappers for rueful spectators. This done, embold- 

I ened by what they considered cowardice on the part of the white 

I men, they neglected their usual mode of bush-fighting, and ad- 

1 vanced openly within twenty paces of the willows. A sharp 

( volley from the trappers brought them to a sudden halt, and laid 

\ three of them breathless. The chief, who had stationed himself 

' on an eminence to direct all the movements of his people, seeing 

I three of his warriors laid low, ordered the rest to retire. Thejr 

( immediately did so, and the whole band soon disappeared behind 

a point of woods, carrying off with them the horses, traps, and 

j the greater part of the baggage. 

j It was just after this misfortune, that the party of ten men 

] discovered this forlorn band of trappers in a fortress, which they 
had thrown up after their disaster. They were so perfectly dis- 
mayed, that they could not be induced even to go in quest of 
their traps, which they had set in a neighboring stream. The 
two parties now joined their forces, and made their way, without 
' further misfortune, to the rendezvous. 



212 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



Captain Bonneville perceived from the reports of these par- 
ties, as well as from what he had observed himself in his recent 
march, that he was in a neighborhood teeming with danger. Two 
wandering Snake Indians, also, who visited the camp, assured . 
him that there were two large bands of Crows marching rapidly? 
upon him. He broke up his encampment, therefore, on the Isti 
of September, made his way to the south, across the Littlehorn 
Mountain, until he reached Wind Eiver, and then turning west- 
ward, moved slowly up the banks of that stream, giving time for ' 
his men to trap as he proceeded. As it was not in the plan of i 
the present hunting campaign to go near the caches on Grreen ^ 
River, and as the trappers were in want of traps to replace those ' 
they had lost. Captain Bonneville undertook to visit the caches, 
and procure a supply. To accompany him in this hazardous ex- 
pedition, which would take him through the detilcs of the Wind 
River Mountains, and up the Green River valley, he took but 
three men ; the main party were to continue on trapping up to- . 
wards the head of Wind River, near, which he was to rejoin them, 
just about the place where that stream issues from the moun- , 
tains. We shall accompany the captain on his adventurous 
errand. 



THE STARING WHITE BEARS. 213 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Captain Bonneville sets out for Green River valley. — Journey up the Popo 
Agie. — Buffaloes. — The staring white bears. — The smoke. — The vv^arm 
springs. — Attempt to traverse the Wind River Mountains. — The Great 
Slope. — Mountain dells and chasms. — Crystal lakes. — Ascent of a snowy 
peak. — Sublime prospect. — A panorama. — " Les dignes de pitie," or wild 
men of the mountains. 

Having forded Wind River a little above its mouth, Captain 
Bonneville and his three companions proceeded across a gravelly 
plain, until they fell upon the Popo Agie, up the left bank of 
which they held their course, nearly in a southerly direction. 
Here they came upon numerous droves of buffalo, and halted for 
the purpose of procuring a supply of beef As the hunters were 
stealing cautiously to get within shot of the game, two small 
white bears suddenly presented themselves in their path, and, 
rising upon their hind legs, contemplated them for some time, 
with a whimsically solemn gaze. The hunters remained motion- 
less ; whereupon the bears, having apparently satisfied their 
curiosity, lowered themselves upon all fours, and began to with- 
draw. The hunters now advanced, upon which the bears turned, 
rose again upon their haunches, and repeated their serio-comic 
examination. This was repeated several times, until the hunt- 
ers, piqued at their unmannerly staring, rebuked it with a dis- 
charge of their rifles. The bears made an awkward bound or 



214 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



two, as if wounded, and then walked off with great gravity, seem- 
ing to commune together, and every now and then turning to 
take another look at the hunters. It was well for the latter that 
the bears were but half grown, and had not yet acquired the 
ferocity of their kind. 

The buffalo were somewhat startled at the report of the fire- 
arms ; but the hunters succeeded in killing a couple of fine cows, 
and, having secured the best of the meat, continued forward un- 
til some time after dark, when, encamping in a large thicket of 
willows, they made a great fire, roasted buffalo beef enough for 
half a score, disposed of the whole of it with keen relish and 
high glee, and then '• turned in" for the night and slept soundly, 
like weary and well fed hunters. 

At daylight they were in the saddle again, and skirted along 
the river, passing through fresh grassy meadows, and a succession 
of beautiful groves of willows and cotton-wood. Towards even- 
ing. Captain Bonneville observed a smoke at a distance rising 
from among hills, directly in the route he was pursuing. Appre- 
hensive of some hostile band, he concealed the horses in a thicket, 
and, accompanied by one of his men, crawled cautiously up a 
height, from which he could overlook the scene of danger. Here, 
with a spy -glass, he reconnoitred the surrounding country, but 
not a lodge nor fire, not a man. horse, nor dog, was to be discov- 
ered ; in short, the smoke which had caused such alarm proved 
to be the vapor from several warm, or rather hot springs of con- 
siderable magnitude, pouring forth streams in every direction ', 
over a bottom of white clay. One of the springs was about 
twenty-five yards in diameter, and so deep, that the water was of 
a bright green color. 

They were now advancing diagonally upon the chain of Wind 

» 



ASCENT OF TPIE MOUNTAINS. 215 



River Mountains, which lay between them and Green River 
valley. To coast round their southern points would be a wide 
' • circuit ; whereas, could they force their way through them, they 
'might proceed in a straight line. The mountains were lofty, with 
snowy peaks and cragged sides ; it was hoped, however, that 
some practicable defile might be found. They attempted, accord 
ingly, to penetrate the mountains by following up one of the 
branches of the Popo Agie, but soon found themselves in the 
midst of stupendous crags and precipices, that barred all pro- 
gress. Retracing their steps, and falling back upon the river, 
they consulted where to make another attempt. They were too 
close beneath the mountains to scan them generally, but they 
now recollected having noticed, from the plain, a beautiful slope, 
rising, at an angle of about thirty degrees, and apparently with- 
out any break, until it reached the snowy region. Seeking this 
gentle acclivity, they began to ascend it with alacrity, trusting to 
find at the top one of those elevated plains which prevail among 
the Rocky Mountains. The slope was covered with coarse 
gravel, interspersed with plates of freestone. They attained the 
summit with some toil, but found, instead of a level, or rather 
undulating plain, that they were on the brink of a deep and pre- 
cipitous ravine, from the bottom of which, rose a second slope, 
similar to the one they had just ascended. Down into this pro- 
found ravine they made their way by a rugged path, or rather 
fissure of the rocks, and then labored up the second slope. They 
gained the summit only to find themselves on another ravine, and 
now perceived that this vast mountain, which had presented such 
a sloping and even side to the distant beholder on the plain, was 
shagged by frightful precipices, and seamed with longitudinal 
chasms, deep and dangerous. 



216 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



In one of these wild dells tliej passed the night, and slept 
soundly and sweetly after their fatigues. Two days more of 
arduous climbing and scrambling only served to admit them into 
the heart of this mountainous and awful solitude ; where difficul- 
ties increased as they proceeded. Sometimes they scrambled 
from rock to rock, up the bed of some mountain stream, dashing 
its bright way down to the plains ; sometimes they availed them- 
selves of the paths made by the deer and the mountain sheep, 
which, however, often took them to the brink of fearful precipices, 
or led to rugged defiles, impassable for their horses. At one 
place, they were obliged to slide their horses down the face of a 
rock, in which attempt some of the poor animals lost their foot- 
ing, rolled to the bottom, and came near being dashed to pieces. 

In the afternoon of the second day, the travellers attained one 
of the elevated valleys locked up in this singular bed of moun- 
tains. Here were two bright and beautiful little lakes, set like 
mirrors in the midst of stern and rocky heights, and surrounded 
by grassy meadows, inexpressibly refreshing to the eye. These 
probably were among the sources of those mighty streams which 
take their rise among these mountains, and wander hundreds of 
miles through the plains. 

In the green pastures bordering upon these lakes, the travel- 
lers halted to repose, and to give their weary horses time to crop 
the sweet and tender herbage. They had now ascended to a 
great height above the level of the plains, yet they beheld huge 
crags of granite piled one upon another, and beetling like battle- 
ments far above them. While two of the men remained in the 
camp with the horses. Captain Bonneville, accompanied by the 
other men, set out to climb a neighboring height, hoping to gain 
a commanding prospect, and discern some practicable route 



THE CREST OF THE WORLD. 217 



through this stupendous labyrinth. After much toil, he reached 
the summit of a lofty cliiF, but it was only to behold gigantic 
peaks rising all around, and towering far into the snowy regions 
of the atmosphere. Selecting one which appeared to be the 
highest, he crossed a narrow intervening valley, and began to 
scale it. He soon found that he had undertaken a tremendous 
task ; but the pride of man is never more obstinate than when 
climbing mountains. The ascent was so steep and rugged that 
he and his companions were frequently obliged to clamber on 
hands and knees, with their guns slung upon their backs. Fre- 
quently, exhausted with fatigue, and dripping with perspiration, 
they threw themselves upon the snow, and took handfuls of it to 
allay their parching thirst. At one place, they even stripped off 
their coats and hung them upon the bushes, and thus lightly 
clad, proceeded to scramble over these eternal snows. As they 
ascended still higher, there were cool breezes that refreshed and 
braced them, and springing with new ardor to their task, they at 
length attained the summit. 

Here a scene burst upon the view of Captain Bonneville, that 
for a time astonished and overwhelmed him with its immensity. 
He stood, in fact, upon that dividing ridge which Indians regard 
as the crest of the world ; and on each side of which, the land- 
scape may be said to decline to the two cardinal oceans of the 
globe. Whichever way he turned his eye, it was confounded by 
the vastness and variety of objects. Beneath him, the Rocky 
Mountains seemed to open all their secret recesses : deep, solemn 
valleys ; treasured lakes ; dreary passes ; rugged defiles, and foam- 
ing torrents ; while beyond their savage precincts, the eye was 
lost in an almost immeasurable landscape ; stretching on every 
side into dim and hazy distance, like the expanse of a summer's 

10 



218 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

sea. Whichever way he looked, he beheld vast plains glimmer* 
ing with reflected sunshine ; mighty streams wandering on their 
shining course toward either ocean, and snowy mountains, chain 
beyond chain, and peak beyond peak, till they melted like clouds 
into the horizon. For a time, the Indian table seemed realized : 
he had attained that height from which the Blaekfoot warrior, 
after death, first catches a view of the land of souls, and beholds 
the happy hunting grounds spread out below him, brightening 
with the abodes of the free and generous spirits. The captain 
stood for a long while gazing upon this scene, lost in a crowd of 
vague and indefinite ideas and sensations. A long-drawn inspi- 
ration at length relieved him from this enthralment of the mind, 
and he began to analyze the parts of this vast panorama. A 
simple enumeration of a few of its features, may give some idea 
of its collective grandeur and magnificence. 

The peak on which the captain had taken his stand, com- 
manded the whole Wind River chain ; which, in fact, may rather 
be considered one immense mountain, broken into snowy peaks 
and lateral spurs, and seamed with narrow valleys. Some of 
these valleys glittered with silver lakes and gushing streams ; 
the fountain heads, as it were, of the mighty tributaries to the 
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Beyond the snowy peaks, to the 
south, and far, far below the mountain range, the gentle river, 
called the Sweet Water, was seen pursuing its tranquil way 
through the rugged regions of the Black Hills. In the east, the 
head waters of Wind Biver wandered through a plain, until 
mingling in one powerful current, they forced their way through 
th\e range of Horn Mountains, and were lost to view. To the 
north, were caught glimpses of the upper streams of the Yellow- 
stone, that great tributary of the Missouri. In another direction 



HEIGHT OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 21J» 



were tc be seen some of the sources of the Oregon, or Columbia, 
flowing to the northwest, past those towering landmarks the 
Three Tetons, and pouring down into the great lava plain ; 
while, almost at the captain's feet, the Green liiver, or Colorado 
of the West, set forth on its wandering pilgrimage to the Gulf of 
California : at first a mere mountain torrent, dashing northward 
over crag and precipice, in a succession of cascades, and tumbling 
into the plain, where, expanding into an ample river, it circled 
away to the south, and after alternately shining out and disap- 
pearing in the mazes of the vast landscape, was finally lost in a 
horizon of mountains. The day was calm and cloudless, and the 
atmosphere so pure that objects were discernible at an astonish- 
ing distance. The whole of this immense area was inclosed by 
an outer range of shadowy peaks, some of them faintly marked on 
the horizon, which seemed to wall it in from the rest of the earth. 

It is to be regretted that Captain Bonneville had no instru- 
ments with him with which to ascertain the altitude of this peak. 
He gives it as his opinion, that it is the loftiest point of the 
North American continent ; but of this we have no satisfactory 
proof It is certain that the Rocky Mountains are of an altitude 
vastly superior to what was formerly supposed. ^. We rather in- 
cline to the opinion that the highest peak is further to the north- 
ward, and is the same measured by Mr. Thompson, surveyor to 
the Northwest Company : who, by the joint means of the barome- 
ter and trigonometric measurement, ascertained it to be twenty- 
five thousand feet above the level of the sea ; an elevation only 
inferior to that of the Himalayas.* 

For a long time. Captain Bonneville remained gazing around 

* See the letter of Professor Renwick, in the Appendix to Astoria. 



220 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



him with wonder and enthusiasm ; at length the chill and wintry 
winds, whirling about the snow-clad height, admonished him to 
descend. He soon regained the spot where he and his compan- 
ions had thrown off their coats, which were now gladly resumed, 
and, retracing their course down the peak, they safely rejoined 
their companions on the border of the lake. 

Notwithstanding the savage and almost inaccessible nature 
of these mountains, they have their inhabitants. As one of the 
party was out hunting, he came upon the solitary track of a man, 
in a lonely valley. Following it up, he reached the brow of a 
cliff, whence he beheld three savages running across the valley 
below him. He fired his gun to call their attention, hoping to 
induce them to turn back. They only fled the faster, and disap- 
peared among the rocks. The hunter returned and reported 
what he had seen. Captain Bonneville at once concluded that 
these belonged to a kind of hermit race, scanty in number, that 
inhabit the highest and most inaccessible fastnesses. They speak 
the Shoshonie language, and probably are offsets from that tribe, 
though they have peculiarities of their own, which distinguish 
them from all other Indians. They are miserably poor ; own no 
horses, and are destitute of every convenience to be derived from 
an intercourse with the whites. Their weapons are bows and 
stone-pointed arrows, with which they hunt the deer, the elk, and 
the mountain sheep. They are to be found scattered about the 
countries of the Shoshonie, Flathead, Crow, and Blackfeet tribes; 
but their residences are always in lonely places, and the clefts of 
the rocks. 

Their footsteps are often seen by the trappers in the high and 
solitary valleys among the mountains, and the smokes of their 
fires descried among the precipices, but they themselves are 






WILD MEN OF THE MOUNTAINS. 221 



rarely met with, and still more rarely brought to a parley, so 
great is their shyness, and their dread of strangers. 

As their poverty offers no temptation to the marauder, and as 
they are inoffensive in their habits, they arc never the objects of 
warfare : should one of them, however, fall into the hands of a 
war party, he is sure to be made a sacrifice, for the sake of that 
savage trophy, a scalp, and that barbarous ceremony, a scalp 
dance. Tliese forlorn beings, forming a mere link between human 
nature and the brute, have been looked down upon with pity and 
contempt by the Creole trappers, who have given them the appel- 
lation of -'les dignes de pitie," or "the objects of pity." They 
appear more worthy to be called the wild men of the mountains. 



222 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

A retrograde move. — Channel of a mountain torrent. — Alpine scenery. — Cas- 
cades. — Beaver valleys. — Beavers at work — their architecture — their modes 
of felUng trees. — Mode of trapping beaver. — Contests of skill. — A beaver 
"up to trap." — Arrival at the Green River caches. 

The view from the snowy peak of the Wind River Mountain, 
while it had excited Captain Bonneville's enthusiasm, had satis- 
fied him that it would be useless to force a passage westward, 
through multiplying barriers of cliffs and precipices. Turning 
his face eastward, therefore, he endeavored to regain the plains, 
intending to make the circuit round the southern point of the 
mountain. To descend, and to extricate himself from the heart 
of this rock-piled wilderness, was almost as difficult as to pene- 
trate it. Taking his course down the ravine of a tumbling 
stream, the commencement of some future river, he descended 
from rock to rock, and shelf to shelf, between stupendous cliffs 
and beetling crags, that sprang up to the sky. Often he had to 
cross and recross the rushing torrent, as it wound foaming and 
roaring down its broken channel, or was walled by perpendicular 
precipices ; and imminent was the hazard of breaking the legs of 
the horses in the clefts and fissures of slippery rocks. The whole 
scenery of this deep ravine was of Alpine wildness and sublimity. 
Sometimes the travellers passed beneath cascades which pitched 



THE INDUSTRIOUS BEAVERS, 223 



from such lofty heights, that the water fell into the stream like 
heavy rain. In other places, torrents came tumbling from crag 
to crag, dashing into foam and spray, and making tremendous 
din and uproar. 

On the second day of their descent, the travellers, having got 
beyond the steepest pitch of the mountains, came to where the 
deep and rugged ravine began occasionally to expand into small 
levels or valleys, and the stream to assume for short intervals a 
more peaceful character. Here, not merely the river itself, but 
every rivulet flowing into it, was dammed up by communities of 
industrious beavers, so as to inundate the neighborhood, and 
make continual swamps. 

During a mid-day halt in one of these beaver valleys, 
Captain Bonneville left his companions, and strolled down the 
course of the stream to reconnoitre. He had not proceeded far, 
when he came to a beaver pond, and caught a glimpse of one of 
its painstaking inhabitants busily at work upon the dam. The 
curiosity of the captain was aroused, to behold the mode of ope- 
rating of this far-famed architect ; he moved forward, therefore, 
with the utmost caution, parting the branches of the water wil- 
lows without making any noise, until having attained a position 
commanding a view of the whole pond, he stretched himself flat on 
the ground, and watched the solitary workman. In a little while, 
three others appeared at the head of the dam, bringing sticks and 
bushes. With these they proceeded directly to the barrier, which 
Captain Bonneville perceived was in need of repair. Having 
deposited their loads upon the broken part, they dived into the 
water, and shortly reappeared at the surface. Each now brought 
a quantity of mud, with which he would plaster the sticks and 
bushes just deposited. This kind of masonry was continued for 



224 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES 



some time, repeated supplies of wood and mud being brought, 
and treated in the same manner. This done, the industrious 
beavers indulged in a little recreation, chasing each other about 
the pond, dodging and whisking about on the surface, or diving 
to the bottom ; and in their frolic, often slapping their tails on 
the water with a loud clacking sound. While thej were thus 
amusing themselves, another of the fraternity made his appear- 
ance, and looked gravely on their sports for some time, without 
offering to join in them. He then climbed the bank close to where 
the captain was concealed, and, rearing himself on his hind quar- 
ters, in a sitting position, put his fore paws against a young pine 
tree, and began to cut the bark with his teeth. At times he 
would tear off a small piece, and holding it between his paws, 
and retaining his sedentary position, would feed himself with it, 
after the fashion of a monkey. The object of the beaver, how- 
ever, was evidently to cut down the tree ; and he was proceeding 
with his work, when he was alarmed by the approach of Captain 
Bonneville's men, who, feeling anxious at the protracted absence 
of their leader, were coming in search of him. At the sound of 
their voices, all the beavers, busy as well as idle, dived at once 
beneath the surface, and were no more to be seen. Captain 
Bonneville regretted this interruption. He had heard much of 
the sagacity of the beaver in cutting down trees, in which, it is 
said, they manage to make them fall into the water, and in such 
a position and direction as may be most favorable for conveyance 
to the desired point. In the present instance, the tree was a tall 
straight pine, and as it grew perpendicularly, and there was not 
a breath of air stirring, the beaver could have felled it in any 
direction he pleased, if really capable of exercising a discre- 
tion in the matter. He was evidently engaged in ''belting" 



SAGACITY OF THE BEAVER. 225 



the tree, and his first incision had been on the side nearest to 
the water. 

Captain Bonneville, however, discredits, on the whole, the 
alleged sagacity of the beaver in this particular, and thinks the 
animal has no other aim than to get the tree down, without any 
of the subtle calculation as to its mode or direction of falling. 
This attribute, he thinks, has been ascribed to them from the 
circumstance, that most trees growing near water-courses, either 
lean bodily towards the stream, or stretch their largest limbs in 
that direction, to benefit by the space, the light, and the air to be 
found there. The beaver, of course, attacks those trees which 
are nearest at hand, and on the banks of the stream or pond. 
He makes incisions round them, or, in technical phrase, belts 
them with his teeth, and when they fall, they naturally take the 
direction in which their trunks or branches preponderate. 

" I have often," says Captain Bonneville, " seen trees mea- 
suring eighteen inches in diameter, at the places where they had 
been cut through by the beaver, but they lay in all directions, 
and often very inconveniently for the after purposes of the ani- 
mal. In fact, so little ingenuity do they at times display in this 
particular, that at one of our camps on Snake River, a beaver 
was found with his head wedged into the cut which he had made, 
the tree having fallen upon him and held him prisoner until he 
died." 

Great cl oice, according to the captain, is certainly displayed 
by the beaver in selecting the wood which is to furnish bark for 
winter provision. The whole beaver household, old and young, 
set out upon this business, and will often make long journeys 
before they are suited. Sometimes they cut down trees of the 
largest size, and then cull the branches, the bark of which is 

10* 



226 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



most to their taste. These they cut into lengths of about three 
feet, convey them to the water, and float them to their lodges, 
where they are stored away for winter. They are studious of 
cleanliness and comfort in their lodges, and after their repasts, 
will carry out the sticks from which they have eaten the bark, 
and throw them into the current beyond the barrier. They are 
jealous, too, of their territories, and extremely pugnacious, never 
permitting a strange beaver to enter their premises, and often 
fighting with such virulence as almost to tear each other to pieces. 
In the spring, which is the breeding season, the male leaves the 
female at home, and sets off on a tour of pleasure, rambling often 
to a great distance, recreating himself in every clear and quiet 
expanse of water on his way, and climbing the banks occasionally 
to feast upon the tender sprouts of the young willows. As sum- 
mer advances, he gives up his bachelor rambles, and bethinking 
himself of housekeeping duties, returns home to his mate and 
his new progeny, and marshals them all for the foraging expedi- 
tion in quest of winter provisions. 

After having shown the public spirit of this praiseworthy 
little animal as a member of a community, and his amiable and 
exemplary conduct as the father of a family, we grieve to re- 
cord the perils with which he is environed, and the snares set 
for him and his painstaking household. 

Practice, says Captain Bonneville, has given such a quickness 
of eye to the experienced trapper in all that relates to his pur- 
suit, that he can detect the slightest sign of beaver, however wild; 
and although the lodge may be concealed by close thickets and 
overhanging willows, he can generally, at a single glance, make 
an accurate guess at the number of its inmates. He now goes 
to work to set his trap ; planting it upon the shore, in some 



MODE OF TRAPPING BEAVER. 227 



chosen place, two or three inches below tiie surface of the water, 
and secures it by a chain to a pole set deep in the mud. A small 
twig is then stripped of its bark, and one end is dipped in the 
" medicine," as the trappers term the peculiar bait which they 
employ. This end of the stick rises about four inches above the 
surface of the water, the other end is planted between the jaws 
of the trap. The beaver, possessing an acute sense of smell, is 
soon attracted by the odor of the bait. As he raises his nose 
towards it, his foot is caught in the trap. In his fright he throws 
a somerset into the deep water. The trap, being fastened to the 
pole, resists all his eiforts to drag it to the shore ; the chain by 
which it is fastened defies his teeth ; he struggles for a time, and 
at length sinks to the bottom and is drowned. 

Upon rocky bottoms, where it is not possible to plant the 
pole, it is thrown into the stream. The beaver, when entrapped, 
often gets fastened by the chain to sunken logs or floating tim- 
ber : if he gets to shore, he is entangled in the thickets of brook 
willows. In such cases, however, it costs the trapper diligent 
search, and sometimes a bout at swimming, before he finds his 
game. 

Occasionally it happens that several members of a beaver 
family are trapped in succession. The survivors then become 
extremely shy, and can scarcely be " brought to medicine," to 
use the trapper's phrase for '•' taking the bait." In such case, 
the trapper gives up the use of the bait, and conceals his traps 
in the usual paths and crossing-places of the household'. The 
beaver now being completely '• up to trap," approaches them 
cautiously, and springs them ingeniously with a stick. At other 
times, he turns the traps bottom upwards, by the same means, 
and occasionally even drags them to the barrier and conceals 



228 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



them in the mud. The trapper now gives up the contest of in- 
genuity, and shouldering his traps, marches oflf, admitting that 
he is not yet " up to heaver." 

On the day following Captain Bonneville's supervision of the 
industrious and frolicsome community of beavers, of which he 
has given so edifying an account, he succeeded in extricating 
himself from the Wind River Mountains, and regaining the plain 
to the eastward, made a great bend to the south, so as to go round 
the bases of the mountains, and arrived without further incident 
of importance, at the old place of rendezvous in Green River 
valley, on the 17th of September. 

He found the caches, in which he had deposited his super- 
fluous goods and equipments, all safe, and having opened and 
taken from them the necessary supplies, he closed them again ; 
taking care to obliterate all traces that might betray them to the 
keen eyes of Indian marauders. 



DANGEROUS NEIGHBORHOOD. 



CHAPTER XXYII. 

Route towards Wind River. — Dangerous neighborhood. — Alarms and precau- 
tions.— ^A sham encampment. — Apparition of an Indian spy. — Midnight 
move. — A mountain defile. — The Wind River valley. — Tracking a party. 
— Deserted camps. — Symptoms of Crow^s. — Meeting of comrades. — A 
trapper entrapped. — Crovi^ pleasantry. — Crow spies. — A decampment. — 
Return to Green River valley. — Meeting with Fitzpatrick's party — their 
adventures among the Crows. — Orthodox Crows. 

On the 18th of September, Captain Bonneville and his three 
companions set out, bright and early, to rejoin the main party, 
from which they had parted on Wind River. Their route lay up 
the Green Eiver valley, with that stream on their right hand, and 
beyond it, the range of Wind River Mountains. At the head of 
the valley, they were to pass through a defile which would bring 
them out beyond the northern end of these mountains, to the 
head of Wind River ; where they expected to meet the main 
party, according to arrangement. 

We have already adverted to the dangerous nature of this 
neighborhood, infested by roving bands of Crows and Blackfcet ; 
to whom the numerous defiles and passes of the country afford 
capital places for ambush and surprise. The travellers, there- 
fore, kept a vigilant eye upon every thing that might give intima- 
tion of lurking danger. 

About two hours after mid-day, as they reached the summit of 



230 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



a hill, they discovered bufi'alo on the plain below, running in 
every direction. One of the men, too, fancied he heard the re- 
port of a gun. It was concluded, therefore, that there was some 
party of Indians below, hunting the buffalo. 

The horses were immediately concealed in a narrow ravine ; 
and the captain, mounting an eminence, but concealing himself 
from view, reconnoitred the whole neighborhood with a telescope. 
Not an Indian was to be seen ; so, after halting about an hour, 
he resumed his journey. Convinced, however, that he was in a 
dangerous neighborhood, he advanced with the utmost caution ; 
winding his way through hollows and ravines, and avoiding, as 
much as possible, any open tract, or rising ground, that might 
betray his little party to the watchful eye of an Indian scout. 

Arriving, at length, at the edge of the open meadow-land bor- 
dering on the river, he again observed the buffalo, as far as he 
could see, scampering in great alarm. Once more concealing the 
horses, he and his companions remained for a long time watching 
the various groups of the animals, as each caught the panic and 
started off; but they sought in vain to discover the cause. 

They were now about to enter the mountain defile, at the 
head of Green River valley, where they might be waylaid and 
attacked ; they, therefore, arranged the packs on their horses, in 
the manner most secure and convenient for sudden flight, should 
such be necessary. This done, they again set forward, keeping 
the most anxious look-out in every direction. 

It was now drawing towards evening : but they could not 
think of encamping for the night, in a place so full of danger. 
Captain Bonneville, therefore, determined to halt about sunset, 
kindle a fire, as if for encampment, cook and eat supper ; but, as 
soon as it was sufficiently dark, to make a rapid move for the 



A SHAM ENCAMPMENT. 231 



summit of the mountain, and seek some secluded spot for their 
night's lodgings. 

Accordingly, as the sun went down, the little party came to a 
halt, made a large fire, spitted their buffalo meat on wooden sticks, 
and, when sufficiently roasted, planted the savory viands before 
them ; cutting off huge slices with their hunting knives, and sup- 
ping with a hunter's appetite. The light of their fire would not 
fail, as they knew, to attract the attention of any Indian horde 
in the neighborhood ; but they trusted to be off and away, before 
any prowlers could reach the place. While they were supping 
thus hastily, however, one of their party suddenly started up, 
and shouted " Indians !" All were instantly on their feet, with 
their rifles in their hands ; but could see no enemy. The man, 
however, declared that he had seen an Indian advancing, cau- 
tiously, along the trail which they had made in coming to the en- 
campment ; who, the moment he was perceived, had thrown him- 
self on the ground, and disappeared. He urged Captain Bonne- 
ville instantly to decamp. The captain, however, took the mat- 
ter more coolly. The single fact, that the Indian had endeavored 
to hide himself, convinced him that he was not one of a party, 
on the advance to make an attack. He was, probably, some scout, 
who had followed up their trail, until he came in sight of their 
fire. He would, in such case, return, and report what he had 
seen to his companions. These, supposing the white men had 
encamped for the night, would keep aloof until very late, when 
all should be asleep. They would, then, according to Indian 
tactics, make their stealthy approaches, and place themselves in 
ambush around, preparatory to their attack, at the usual hour of 
daylight. 

Such was Captain Bonneville's conclusion : in consequence of 



232 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



which, he counselled his men to keep perfectly quiet, and act as 
if free from all alarm, until the proper time arrived for a move. 
They, accordingly, continued their repast with pretended appetite 
and jollity ; and then trimmed and rejDlenished their fire, as if 
for a bivouac. As soon, however, as the night had completely set 
in, they left their fire blazing ; walked quietly among the willows, 
and then leaping into their saddles, made ofi" as noiselessly as 
possible. In proportion as they left the point of danger behind 
them, they relaxed in their rigid and anxious taciturnity, and 
began to joke at the expense of their enemy ; whom they pictured 
to themselves mousing in the neighborhood of their deserted fire, 
waiting for the proper time of attack, and preparing for a grand 
disappointment. 

About midnight, feeling satisfied that they had gained a se- 
cure distance, they posted one of their number to keep watch, in 
case the enemy should follow on their trail, and then, turning 
abruptly into a dense and matted thicket of willows, halted for 
the night at the foot of the mountain, instead of making for the 
summit, as they had originally intended. 

A trapper in the wilderness, like a sailor on the ocean, snatches 
morsels of enjoyment in the midst of trouble, and sleeps soundly 
when surrounded by danger. The little party now made their 
arrangements for sleep with perfect calmness : they did not ven- 
ture to make a fire and cook, it is true, though generally done by 
hunters whenever they come to a halt, and have provisions. They 
comforted themselves, however, by smoking a tranquil pipe ; and 
then calling in the watch, and turning loose the horses, stretched 
themselves on their pallets, agreed that whoever should first 
awake, should rouse the rest ; and in a little while were all in as 
sound sleep as though in the midst of a fortress. 



ARRIVAL AT WIND RIVER. 



A little before day, they were all on the alert ; it was the 
hour for Indian maraud. A sentinel was immediately detached, 
to post himself at a little distance on their trail, and give the 
alarm, should he see or hear an enemy. 

With the first blink of dawn, the rest sought the horses ; 
brought them to the camp, and tied them up, until an hour after 
sunrise ; when, the sentinel having reported that all was well, 
they sprang once more into their saddles, and pursued the most 
covert and secret paths up the mountain, avoiding the direct 
route. 

At noon, they halted and made a hasty repast ; and then 
bent their course so as to regain the route from which they had 
diverged. They were now made sensible of the danger from 
which they had just escaped. There were tracks of Indians who 
had evidently been in pursuit of them ; but had recently re- 
turned, baffled in their search. 

Trusting that they had now got a fair start, and could not be 
overtaken before night, even in case the Indians should renew 
the chase, they pushed briskly forward, and did not encamp until 
late ; when they cautiously concealed themselves in a secure nook 
of the mountains. 

Without any further alarm, they made their way to the head 
waters of Wind River, and reached the neighborhood in which 
they had appointed the rendezvous with their companions. It 
was within the precincts of the Crow country ; the Wind River 
valley being one of the favorite haunts of that restless tribe. 
After much searching. Captain Bonneville came upon a trail 
which had evidently been made by his main party. It was so 
old, however, that he feared his people might have left the neigh- 
borhood ; driven ofi", perhaps, by some of those war parties which 



234 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



were on the prowl. He continued his search with great anxiety, 
and no little fatigue ; for his horses were jaded, and almost crip- 
pled, by their forced marches and scramblings through rocky 
defiles. 

On the following day, about noon, Captain Bonneville came 
upon a deserted camp of his people, from which they had, evi- 
dently, turned back ; but he could find no signs to indicate why 
they had done so ; whether they had met with misfortune, or 
molestation, or in what direction they had gone. He was now, 
more than ever, perplexed. 

On the following day, he resumed his march with increasing 
anxiety. The feet of his horses had by this time become so worn 
and wounded by the rocks, that he had to make moccasons for 
them of buiFalo hide. About noon, he came to another deserted 
camp of his men ; but soon after lost their trail. After great 
search, he once more found it, turning in a southerly direction 
along the eastern bases of the Wind River Mountains, which 
towered to the right. He now pushed forward with all possible 
speed, in hopes of overtaking the party. At night, he slept at 
another of their camps, from which they had but recently de- 
parted. When the day dawned sufficiently to distinguish objects, 
he perceived the danger that must be dogging the heels of his 
main party. All about the camp were traces of Indians who 
must have been prowling about it at the time his people had 
passed the night there ; and who must still be hovering about 
them. Convinced, now, that the main party could not be at any 
great distance, he mounted a scout on the best horse, and sent 
him forward to overtake them, to warn them of their danger, and 
to order them to halt, until he should rejoin them. 

In the afternoon, to his great joy, he met the scout returning. 



THE TRAPPER ENTRAPPED. 



with six comrades from the main party, leading fresh horses for 
his accommodation ; and on the following day (September 25th), 
all hands were once more reunited, after a separation of nearly 
three weeks. Their meeting was hearty and joyous ; for they 
had both experienced dangers and perplexities. 

The main party, in pursuing their course up the Wind River 
valley, had been dogged the whole way by a war party of Crows. 
In one pl^ce, they had been fired upon, but without injury ; in 
another place, one of their horses had been cut loose, and carried 
off. At length, they were so closely beset, that they were obliged 
to make a retrograde move, lest they should be surprised and 
overcome. This was the movement which had caused such per- 
plexity to Captain Bonneville. 

The whole party now remained encamped for two or three 
days, to give repose to both men and horses. Some of the trap- 
pers, however, pursued their vocations about the neighboring 
streams. While one of them was setting his traps, he heard the 
tramp of horses, and looking up, beheld a party of Crow braves 
moving along at no great distance, with a considerable cavalcade. 
The trapper hastened to conceal himself, but was discerned by 
the quick eye of the savages. With whoops and yells, they 
dragged him from his hiding-place, flourished over his head their 
tomahawks and scalping-knives, and for a time, the poor trapper 
gave himself up for lost. Fortunately, the Crows were in a jocose, 
rather than a sanguinary mood. They amused themselves heartily, 
for a while, at the expense of his terrors ; and after having played 
oiF divers Crow pranks and pleasantries, suffered him to depart 
unharmed. It is true, they stripped him completely, one taking 
his horse, another his gun, a third his traps, a fourth his blanket, 
and so on, through all his accoutrements, and even his clothing. 



236 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



until he was stark naked ; but then they generously made him a 
present of an old tattered buftalo robe, and dismissed him, with 
many complimentary speeches, and much laughter. When the 
trapper returned to the camp, in such sorry plight, he was greeted 
with peals of laughter from his comrades, and seemed more mor- 
tified by the style in which he had been dismissed, than rejoiced 
at escaping with his life. A circumstance which he related to 
Captain Bonneville, gave some insight into the cause of this ex- 
treme jocularity on the part of the Crows. They had evidently 
had a run of luck, and, like winning gamblers, were in high good 
humor. Among twenty-six fine horses, and some mules, which 
composed their cavalcade, the trapper recognized a number which 
had belonged to Fitzpatrick's brigade, when they parted company 
on the Bighorn. It was supposed, therefore, that these vaga- 
bonds had been on his trail, and robbed him of part of his 
cavalry. 

On the day following this affair, three Crows came into 
Captain Bonneville's camp, with the most easy, innocent, if not 
impudent air imaginable : walking about with that imperturbable 
coolness and unconcern, in which the Indian rivals the fine 
gentleman. As they had not been of the set which stripped the 
trapper, though evidently of the same band, they were not 
molested. Indeed, Captain Bonneville treated them with his 
usual kindness and hospitality ; permitting them to remain all 
day in the camp, and even to pass the night there. At the same 
time, however, he caused a strict watch to be maintained on all 
their movements ; and at night, stationed an armed sentinel near 
them. The Crows remonstrated against the latter being armed. 
This only made the captain suspect them to be spies, who medi- 
tated treachery ; he redoubled, therefore, his precautions. At 



ARRIVAL AT GREEN RIVER. 237 



the same time, he assured his guests, that while they were per- 
fectly welcome to the shelter and comfort of his camp, yet, should 
any of their tribe venture to approach during the night, they 
would certainly be shot ; which would be a very unfortunate cir- 
cumstance, and much to be deplored. To the latter remark, 
they fully assented ; and shortly afterward commenced a wild 
song, or chant, which they kept up for a long time, and in which, 
they very probably gave their friends, who might be prowling 
around the camp, notice that the white men were on the alert. 
The night passed away without disturbance. In the morning, 
the three Crow guests were very pressing that Captain Bonneville 
and his party should accompany them to their camp, which they 
said was close by. Instead of accepting their invitation, Cap- 
tain Bonneville took his departure with all possible dispatch, 
eager to be out of the vicinity of such a piratical horde ; nor did 
he relax the diligence of his march, until, on the second day, he 
reached the banks of the Sweet Water, beyond the limits of the 
Crow country, and a heavy fall of snow had obliterated all traces 
of his course. 

He now continued on for some few days, at a slower pace, 
round the point of the mountain towards Green River, and 
arrived once more at the caches, on the 14th of October. 

Here they found traces of the band of Indians who had 
hunted them in the defile towards the head waters of Wind 
Biver. Having lost all trace of them on their way over the 
mountains, they had turned and followed back their trail down 
Grrecn Biver valley to the caches. One of these they had dis- 
covered and broken open, but it fortunately contained nothing 
but fragments of old iron, which they had scattered about in all 
directions, and then departed. In examining their deserted 



238 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



camp, Captain Bonneville cliscoA^ered that it numbered thirty- 
nine fires, and had more reason than ever to congratulate himself 
on having escaped the clutches of such a formidable band of 
freebooters. 

He now turned his course southward, under cover of the 
mountains, and on the •25th of October reached Liberge's Ford, 
a tributary of the Colorado, where he came suddenly upon the 
trail of this same war party, which had crossed the stream so 
recently, that the banks were yet wet with the water that had 
been splashed upon them. To judge from their tracks, they 
could not be less than three hundred warriors, and apparently of 
the Crow nation. 

Captain Bonneville was extremely uneasy lest this overpower- 
ing force should come upon him in some place where he would not 
have the means of fortifying himself promptly. He now moved 
towards Hane's Fork, another tributary of the Colorado, where 
he encamped, and remained during the 26th of October. Seeing 
a large cloud of smoke to the south, he supposed it to arise from 
some encampment of Shoshonies, and sent scouts to procure 
information, and to purchase a lodge. It was, in fact, a band of 
Shoshonies, but with them were encamped Fitzpatrick and his 
party of trappers. That active leader had an eventful story to 
relate of his fortunes in the country of the Crows. After parting 
with Captain Bonneville on the banks of the Bighorn, he made 
for the west, to trap upon Powder and Tongue Rivers. He had 
between twenty and thirty men with him, and about one hundred 
horses. So large a cavalcade could not pass through the Crow 
country without attracting the attention of its freebooting hordes. 
A large band of Crows were soon on their traces, and came up 
with them on the 5th of September, just as they had reached 



r 



FITZPATPaCK AND THE CROWS. 239 



Tongue River. The Crow chief came forward with great appear- 
ance of friendship, and proposed to Fitzpatrick that they should 
encamp together. The latter, however, not having any faith in 
Crows, declined the invitation, and pitched his camp three miles 
off. He tlien rode over, with two or three men, to visit the Crow 
chief, by whom he was received with great apparent cordiality. 
In the meantime, however, a party of young braves, who consid- 
ered them absolved by his distrust from all scruples of honor, 
made a circuit privately, and dashed into his encampment. Cap- 
tain Stewart, who had remained there in the absence of Fitzpat- 
rick, behaved with great spirit ; but the Crows were too numerous 
and active. They had got possession of the camp, and soon made 
booty of every thing — carrying oiF all the horses. On their way 
back they met Fitzpatrick returning to his camp ; and finished 
their exploit by rifling and nearly stripping him. 

A negotiation now took place between the plundered white 
men and the triumphant Crows ; what eloquence and manage- 
ment Fitzj)atrick made use of, we do not know, but he succeeded 
in prevailing upon the Crow chieftain to return him his horses 
and many of his traps ; together with his rifles and a few rounds 
of ammunition for each man. He then set out with all speed to 
abandon the Crow country, before he should meet with any fresh 
disasters. 

After his departure, the consciences of some of the most 
orthodox Crows pricked them sorely for having suffered such a 
cavalcade to escape out of their hands. Anxious to wipe off so 
foul a stigma on the reputation of the Crow nation, they followed 
on his trail, nor quit hovering about him on his march until they 
had stolen a number of his best horses and mules. It was, 
doubtless, this same band which came upon the lonely trapper on 



240 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



the Popo Agie, and generously gave him an old buffalo robe in 
exchange for his rifle, his traps, and all his accoutrements. With 
these anecdotes, we shall, for the present, take our leave of the 
Crow Country and its vagabond chivalry. 



THE LITTLE LAKE. 241 



CHAPTER XXYIII. 

A region of natural curiosities. — The plain of white clay. — Hot springs. — The 
Beer Spring. — Departure to seek the free trappers. — Plain of Portneuf — 
Lava. — Chasms and gullies. — Banneck Indians — their hunt of the buffalo. 
Hunters' feast. — Trencher heroes. — Bullying of an absent foe. — The damp 
comrade. — The Indian spy. — Meeting with Hodgkiss — his adventures. — 
Poordevil Indians. — Triumph of the Bannecks. — Blackfeet policy in war. 

Crossing an elevated ridge, Captain Bonneville now came upon 
Bear River, which, from its source to its entrance into the Great 
Salt Lake, describes the figure of a horse-shoe. One of the prin- 
cipal head waters of this river, although supposed to abound 
with beaver, has never been visited by the trapper ; rising among 
rugged mountains, and being barricadoed by fallen pine trees and 
tremendous precipices. 

Proceeding down this river, the party encamped, on the 6th of 
November, at the outlet of a lake about thirty miles long, and 
from two to three miles in width, completely imbedded in low 
ranges of mountains, and connected with Bear Biver by an im- 
passable swamp. It is called the Little Lake, to distinguish it 
from the great one of salt water. 

On the 10th of November, Captain Bonneville visited a place 
in the neighborhood which is quite a region of natural curiosities. 
An area of about half a mile square presents a level surface of 
white clay or fullers' earth, perfectly spotless, resembling a great 

11 



242 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

slab of Parian marble, or a sheet of dazzling snow. The effect 
is strikingly beautiful at all times : in summer, when it is sur- 
rounded with verdure, or in autumn, when it contrasts its bright 
immaculate surface with the withered herbage. Seen from a dis- 
tant eminence, it then shines like a mirror, set in the brown land- 
scape. Around this plain are clustered numerous springs of 
various sizes and temperatures. One of them, of scalding heat, 
boils furiously and incessantly, rising to the height of two or 
three feet. In another place, there is an aperture in the earth, 
from which rushes a column of steam that forms a perpetual 
cloud. The ground for some distance around sounds hollow, and 
startles the solitary trapper, as he hears the tramp of his horse 
giving the sound of a muffled drum. He pictures to himself a 
mysterious gulf below, a place of hidden fires, and gazes round 
him with awe and uneasiness. 

The most noted curiosity, however, of this singular region, is 
the Beer Springy of which trappers give wonderful accounts. 
They are said to turn aside from their route through the country 
to drink of its waters, with as much eagerness as the Arab seeks 
some famous well of the desert. Captain Bonneville describes it 
as having the taste of beer. His men drank it with avidity, and 
in copious draughts. It did not appear to him to possess any 
medicinal properties, or to produce any peculiar effects. The 
Indians, however, refuse to taste it, and endeavor to persuade the 
white men from doing so 

We have heard this also called the Soda Spring, and described 
as containing iron and sulphur. It probably possesses some of 
the properties of the Ballston water. 

The time had now arrived for Captain Bonneville to go in 
quest of the party of free trappers, detached in the beginning of 



BANNECK INDIANS. 243 

July, under the command of Mr. Hodgkiss, to trap upon the 
head waters of Salmon River. His intention was to unite them 
with the party with which he was at present travelling, that all 
might go into quarters together for the winter. Accordingly, on 
the nth of November, he took a temporary leave of his band, 
appointing a rendezvous on Snake River, and, accompanied by 
three men, set out upon his journey. His route lay across the 
plain of the Portneuf, a tributary stream of Snake River, called 
after an unfortunate Canadian trapper, murdered by the Indians. 
The whole country through which he passed, bore evidence of 
volcanic convulsions and conflagrations in the olden time. Grreat 
masses of lava lay scattered about in every direction ; the crags 
and cliffs had apparently been under the action of fire ; the rocks 
in some places seemed to have been in a state of fusion ; the plain 
was rent and split with deep chasms and gullies, some of which 
were partly filled with lava. 

They had not proceeded far, however, before they saw a party 
of horsemen, galloping full tilt towards them. They instantly 
turned, and made full speed for the covert of a woody stream, to 
fortify themselves among the trees. The Indians came to a halt, 
and one of them came forward alone. He reached Captain Bon- 
neville and his men just as they were dismounting and about to 
post themselves. A few words dispelled all uneasiness. It was 
a party of twenty-five Banneck Indians, friendly to the whites, 
and they proposed, through their envoy, that both parties should 
encamp together, and hunt the bufi"alo, of which they had dis- 
covered several large herds hard by. Captain Bonneville cheer- 
fully assented to their proposition, being curious to see their 
manner of hunting. 

Both parties accordingly encamped together on a convenient 



244 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



spot, and prepared for the hunt. The Indians first posted a boy 
on a small hill near the camp, to keep a look-out fdr enemies. 
The " runners," then, as they are called, mounted on fleet horses, 
and armed with bows and arrows, moved slowly and cautiously 
toward the buffalo, keeping as much as possible out of sight, in 
hollows and ravines. When within a proper distance, a signal 
was given, and they all opened at once like a pack of hounds, 
with a full chorus of yells, dashing into the midst of the herds, 
and launching their arrows to the right and left. The plain 
seemed absolutely to shake under the tramp of the buffalo, as 
they scoured off. The cows in headlong panic, the bulls furious 
with rage, uttering deep roars, and occasionally turning with a 
desperate rush upon their pursuers. Nothing could surpass the 
spirit, grace, and dexterity, with which the Indians managed their 
horses ; wheeling and coursing among the affrighted herd, and 
launching their arrows with unerring aim. In the midst of the 
apparent confusion, they selected tiieir victims with perfect judg- 
ment, generally aiming at the fattest of the cows, the flesh of the 
bull being nearly worthless, at this season of the year. In a few 
minutes, each of the hunters had crippled three or four cows. 
A single shot was sufficient for the purpose, and the animal, once 
maimed, was left to be completely dispatched at the end of the 
chase. Frequently, a cow was killed on the spot by a single 
arrow. In one instance. Captain Bonneville saw an Indian shoot 
his arrow completely through the body of a cow, so that it struck 
in the ground beyond. The bulls, however, are not so easily 
killed as the cows, and always cost the hunter several arrows ; 
sometimes making battle upon the horses, and chasing them 
furiously, though severely wounded, with the darts still sticking 
in their flesh. . 



FIGHTING THE WIND. 245 



The grand scamper of the hunt being over, the Indians pro- 
ceeded to dispatch the animals that tad been disabled ; then 
cutting up the carcasses, thej returned with loads of meat to the 
camp, where the choicest pieces were soon roasting before large 
fires, and a hunters' feast succeeded ; at which Captain Bonne- 
ville and his men were qualified, by previous fasting, to perform 
their parts with great vigor. 

Some men are said to wax valorous upon a full stomach, and 
such seemed to be the case with the Banneck braves, who, in 
proportion as they crammed themselves with buffalo meat, grew 
stout of heart, until, the supper at an end, they began to chant 
war songs, setting forth their mighty deeds, and the victories 
the}^ had gained over the Blackfeet. Warming with the theme, 
and inflating themselves with their own eulogies, these magnani- 
mous heroes of the trencher would start up, advance a short 
distance beyond the light of the fire, and apostrophize most 
vehemently their Blackfeet enemies, as though they had been 
within hearing. Ruflling, and swelling, and snorting, and slap- 
ping their breasts, and brandishing their arms, they would 
vociferate all their exploits ; reminding the Blackfeet how they 
had drenched their towns in tears and blood ; enumerate the 
blows they had inflicted, the warriors they had slain, the scalps 
they had brought off in triumph. Then, having said every thing 
that could stir a man's spleen or pique his valor, they would dare 
their imaginary hearers, now that the Bannecks were few in 
number, to come and take their revenge — receiving no reply to 
this valorous bravado, they would conclude by all kinds of sneers 
and insults, deriding the Blackfeet for dastards and poltroons, 
that dared not accept their challenge. Such is the kind of 
swaggering and rhodomontade in which the "red men" are prone 



246 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



to indulge in their vainglorious moments ; for, with all their 
vaunted taciturnity, they are vehemently prone at times to 
become eloquent about their exploits, and to sound their own 
trumpet. 

Having vented their valor in this fierce efiervescence, the 
Banneck braves gradually calmed down, lowered their crests, 
smoothed their ruffled feathers, and betook themselves to sleep, 
without placing a single guard over their camp ; so that, had the 
Blackfeet taken them at their word, but few of these braggart 
heroes might have survived for any further boasting. 

On the following morning, Captain Bonneville purchased a 
supply of buffalo meat from his braggadocio friends ; who, with 
all their vaporing, were in fact a very forlorn horde, destitute of 
firearms, and of almost every thing that constitutes riches in 
savage life. The bargain concluded, the Bannecks set ofi" for 
their village, which was situated, they said, at the mouth of the 
Portneuf, and Captain Bonneville and his companions shaped 
their course towards Snake River. 

Arrived on the banks of that river, he found it rapid and 
boisterous, but not too deep to be forded. In traversing it, how- 
ever, one of the horses was swept suddenly from his footing, and 
his rider was flung from the saddle into the midst of the stream. 
Both horse and horseman were extricated without any damage, 
excepting that the latter was completely drenched, so that it was 
necessary to kindle a fire to dry him. While they were thus 
occupied, one of the party looking up, perceived an Indian scout 
cautiously reconnoitring them from the summit of a neighboring 
hill. The moment he found himself discovered, he disappeared 
behind the hill. From his furtive movements. Captain Bonne- 
ville suspected him to be a scout from the Blackfeet camp, and 



HODGKISS AND HIS BAND. 247 



that be had gone to report what he had seen to his companions. 
It would not do to loiter in such a neighborhood, so the kindling 
of the fire was abandoned, the drenched horseman mounted in 
dripping condition, and the little band pushed forward directly 
into the plain, going at a smart pace, until they had gained a 
considerable distance from the place of supposed danger. Here 
encamping for the night, in the midst of abundance of sage, or 
wormwood, which afforded fodder for their horses, they kindled 
a huge fire for the benefit of their damp comrade, and then pro- 
ceeded to prepare a sumptuous supper of buffalo humps and ribs, 
and other choice bits, which they had brought with them. After 
a hearty repast, relished with an appetite unknown to city epi- 
cures, they stretched themselves upon their couches of skins, and 
under the starry canopy of heaven, enjoyed the sound and sweet 
sleep of hardy and well-fed mountaineers. 

They continued on their journey for several days, without any 
incident worthy of notice, and on the 19th of November, came 
upon traces of the party of which they were in search ; such as 
burnt patches of prairie, and deserted camping grounds. All 
these were carefully examined, to discover by their freshness or 
antiquity the probable time that the trappers had left them ; at 
length, after much wandering and investigating, they came upon 
the regular trail of the hunting party, which led into the moun- 
tains, and following it up briskly, came about two o'clock in the 
afternoon of the 20th, upon the encampment of Hodgkiss and 
his band of free trappers, in the bosom of a mountain valley. 

It will be recollected that these free trappers, who were 
masters of themselves and their movements, had refused to 
accompany Captain Bonneville back to G-reen River in the 
preceding month of July, preferring to trap about the upper 



248 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



waters of the Salmon River, where they expected to find plenty 
of beaver, and a less dangerous neighborhood. Their hunt had 
not been very successful. They had penetrated the great range 
of mountains among which some of the upper branches of Salmon 
River take their rise, but had become so entangled among 
immense and almost impassable barricades of fallen pines, and 
so impeded by tremendous precipices, that a great part of their 
season had been wasted among those mountains. At one time, 
they had made their way through them, and reached the Boissee 
River ; but meeting with a band of Banneck Indians, from whom 
they apprehended hostilities, they had again taken shelter among 
the mountains, where they were found by Captain Bonneville. 
In the neighborhood of their encampment, the captain had the 
good fortune to meet with a family of those wanderers of the 
mountains, emphatically called " les dignes de pitie," or Poor- 
devil Indians. These, however, appear to have forfeited the 
title, for they had with them a fine lot of skins of beaver, elk, 
deer, and mountain sheep. These, Captain Bonneville purchased 
from them at a fair valuation, and sent them off astonished at 
their own wealth, and no doubt objects of envy to all their pitiful 
tribe. 

Being now reinforced by Hodgkiss and his band of free trap- 
pers. Captain Bonneville put himself at the head of the united 
parties, and set out to rejoin those he had recently left at the 
Beer Spring, that they might all go into winter quarters on 
Snake River. On his route, he encountered many heavy falls 
of snow, which melted almost immediately, so as not to impede 
his march, and on the 4th of December, he found his other 
party, encamped at the very place where he had partaken in the 
buffalo hunt with the Bannecks. 



A BANNECK VICTORY. 249 

That braggart horde was encamped but about three miles off, 
and were just then in high glee and festivity, and more swagger- 
ing than ever, celebrating a prodigious victory. It appeared that 
a party of their braves being out on a hunting excursion, disco- 
vered a band of Blackfeet moving, as they thought, to surprise 
their hunting camp. The Bannecks immediately posted them- 
selves on each side of a dark ravine, through which the enemy 
must pass,^ and, just as they were entangled in the midst of it, 
attacked them with great fury. The Blackfeet, struck with sud- 
den panic, threw off their buffalo robes and fled, leaving one of 
their warriors dead on the spot. The victors eagerly gathered 
up the spoils ; but their greatest prize was the scalp of the Black- 
foot brave. This they bore off in triumph to their village, where 
it had ever since been an object of the greatest exultation and 
rejoicing. It had been elevated upon a pole in the centre of the 
village, where the warriors had celebrated the scalp dance round 
it, with war feasts, war songs, and warlike harangues. It had 
then been given up to the women and boys ; who had paraded it 
up and down the village with shouts and chants and antic dances ; 
occasionally saluting it with all kinds of taunts, invectives, and 
revilings. 

The Blackfeet, in this affair, do not appear to have acted up 
to the character which has rendered them objects of such terror. 
Indeed, their conduct in war, to the inexperienced observer, is 
full of inconsistencies ; at one time they are headlong in courage, 
and heedless of danger ; at another time cautious almost to cow- 
ardice. To understand these apparent incongruities, one must 
know their principles of warfare. A war party, however tri- 
umphant, if they lose a warrior in the fight, bring back a cause 
of mourning to their people, which casts a shade over the glory 

11* 



250 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



of their achievement. Hence, the Indian is often less fierce and 
reckless in general battle, than he is in a private brawl ; and the 
chiefs are checked in their boldest undertakings by the fear of 
sacrificing their warriors. 

This peculiarity is not confined to the Blackfeet. Among 
the Osages, says Captain Bonneville, when a warrior falls in bat- 
tle, his comrades, though they may have fought with consummate 
valor, and won a glorious victory, will leave their arms upon the 
field of battle, and returning home with dejected countenances, 
will halt without the encampment, and wait until the relatives 
of the slain come forth and invite them to mingle again with 
their people. 



WINTER CAMP AT THE PORTNEUF. 251 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Winter camp at the Portneuf. — Fine springs. — The Banneck Indians— their 
honesty. — Captain Bonneville prepares for an expedition. — Christmas. — 
The American falls. — Wild scenery. — Fishing falls. — Snake Indians. — 
Scenery on the Bruneau. — View of volcanic country from a mountain. — 
Powder River. — Shoshokoes, or Root Diggers — their character, habits, hab- 
itations, dogs. — Vanity at its last shift. 

In establishing his winter camp near the Portneuf, Captain Bon- 
neville had drawn off to some little distance from his Banneck 
friends, to avoid all annoyance from their intimacy or intrusions. 
In so doing, however, he had been obliged to take up his quarters 
on the extreme edge of the flat land, where he was encompassed 
with ice and snow, and had nothing better for his horses to sub- 
sist on than wormwood. The Bannecks, on the contrary, were 
encamped among fine springs of water, where there was grass in 
abundance. Some of these springs gush out of the earth in suf- 
ficient quantity to turn a mill ; and furnish beautiful streams, 
clear as crystal, and full of trout of a large size ; which may be 
seen darting about the transparent water. 

Winter now set in regularly. The snow had fallen frequently. 
and in large quantities, and covered the ground to the depth of 
a foot ; and the continued coldness of the weather prevented 
any thaw. 



252 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



Bj degress, a distrust which at first subsisted between the 
Indians and the trappers, subsided, and gave way to mutual confi- 
dence and good-will. A few presents convinced the chiefs that 
the white men were their friends : nor were the white men want- 
ing in proofs of the honesty and good faith of their savage neigh- 
bors. Occasionally, the deep snow and the want of fodder 
obliged them to turn their weakest horses out to roam in quest 
of sustenance. If they at any time strayed to the camp of the 
Bannecks, they were immediately brought back. It must be con- 
fessed, however, that if the stray horse happened, by any chance, 
to be in vigorous plight and good condition, though he was 
equally sure to be returned by the honest Bannecks, j^et it was 
always after the lapse of several days, and in a very gaunt and 
jaded state ; and always with the remark, that they had found 
him a long way off. The uncharitable were apt to surmise that 
he had, in the interim, been well used up in a buiFalo hunt ; but 
those accustomed to Indian morality in the matter of horseflesh, 
considered it a singular evidence of honesty, that he should be 
brought back at all. 

Being convinced, therefore, from these, and other circum- 
stances, that his people were encamped in the neighborhood of a 
tribe as honest as they were valiant, and satisfied that they would 
pass their winter unmolested. Captain Bonneville prepared for a 
reconnoitring expedition of great extent and peril. This was. to 
penetrate to the Hudson's Bay establishments on the banks of 
the Columbia, and to make himself acquainted with the country 
and the Indian tribes ; it being one part of his scheme to estab- 
lish a trading post somewhere on the lower part of the river, so 
as to participate in the trade lost to the United States by the 
capture of Astoria. This expedition would, of course, take him 



DEPARTURE FOR THE COLUMBIA. 253 



I 



through the Snake River country, and across the Blue Moun 
tains, the scenes of so much hardship and disaster to Hunt and 
Crooks, and their Astorian bands, who first explored it, and he 
would have to pass through it in the same frightful season, the 
depth of winter. 

The idea of risk and hardship, however, only served to stimu- 
late the adventurous spirit of the captain. He chose three com- 
panions for his journey, put up a small stock of necessaries in 
the most portable form, and selected five horses and mules for 
themselves and their baggage. He proposed to rejoin his band 
in the early part of March, at the winter encampment near the 
Portneuf All these arrangements being completed, he mounted 
his horse on Christmas morning, and set oflf with his three com- 
rades. They halted a little beyond the Banneck camp, and made 
their Christmas dinner, which, if not a very merry, was a very 
hearty one, after which they resumed their journey. 

They were obliged to travel slowly, to spare their horses ; for 
the snow had increased in depth to eighteen inches ; and though 
somewhat packed and frozen, was not sufficiently so to yield firm 
footing. Their route lay to the west, down along the left side of 
Snake Biver ; and they were several days in reaching the first, 
or American Falls. The banks of the river, for a considerable 
distance, both above and below the falls, have a volcanic charac- 
ter : masses of basaltic rock are piled one upon another ; the 
water makes its way through their broken chasms, boiling through 
narrow channels, or pitching in beautiful cascades over ridges of 
basaltic columns. 

Beyond these falls, they came to a picturesque, but inconsid- 
erable stream, called the Cassie. It runs through a level valley, 
about four miles wide, where the soil is good ; but the prevalent 



254 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES 



coldness and dryness of the climate is unfavorable to vegetation. 
Near to this stream there is a small mountain of mica slate, in- 
cluding garnets. Granite, in small blocks, is likewise seen in 
this neighborhood, and white sandstone. From this river, the 
travellers had a prospect of the snowy heights of the Salmon 
River Mountains to the north : the nearest, at least fifty miles 
distant. 

In pursuing his course westward. Captain Bonneville gener- 
ally kept several miles from Snake River, crossing the heads of 
its tributary streams ; though he often found the open country 
so encumbered by volcanic rocks, as to render travelling ex- 
tremely difficult. Whenever he approached Snake River, he 
found it running through a broad chasm, with steep, perpendi- 
cular sides of basaltic rock. After several days' travel across a 
level plain, he came to a part of the river which filled him with 
astonishment and admiration. As far as the eye could reach, 
the river was walled in by perpendicular clifl^s two hundred and 
fifty feet high, beetling like dark and gloomy battlements, while 
blocks and fragments lay in masses at their feet, in the midst of 
the boiling and whirling current. Just above, the whole stream 
pitched in one cascade above forty feet in height, with a thunder- 
ing sound, casting up a volume of spray that hung in the air like 
a silver mist. These are called by some the Fishing Falls, as the 
salmon are taken here in immense quantities. They cannot get 
by these falls. 

After encamping at this place all night. Captain Bonneville, 
at sunrise, descended with his party through a narrow ravine, or 
rather crevice, in the vast wall of basaltic rock which bordered 
the river ; this being the only mode, for many miles, of getting 
to the margin of the stream. , 



SNAKE RIVER DEFILE. 255 



I 



The snow lay in a thin crust along the banks of the river, 
so that their travelling was much more easy than it had been 
hitherto. There were foot tracks, also, made by the natives, 
which greatly facilitated their progress. Occasionally, they met 
the inhabitants of this wild region ; a timid race, and but scan- 
tily provided with the necessaries of life. Their dress consisted 
of a mantle about four feet square, formed of strips of rabbit 
skins sewed together : this they hung over their shoulders, in the 
ordinary Indian mode of wearing the blanket. Their weapons 
were bows and arrows ; the latter tipped with obsidian, which 
abounds in the neighborhood. Their huts were shaped like hay- 
stacks, and constructed of branches of willow covered with long 
grass, so as to be warm and comfortable. Occasionally, they 
were surrounded by small inclosures of wormwood, about three 
feet high, which gave them a cottage-like appearance. Three or 
four of these tenements were occasionally grouped together in 
some wild and striking situation, and had a picturesque effect. 
Sometimes they were in sufficient number to form a small ham- 
let. From these people. Captain Bonneville's party frequently 
purchased salmon, dried in an admirable manner, as were like- 
wise the roes. This seemed to be their prime article of food ; 
but they were extremely anxious to get buffalo meat in ex- 
change. 

The high walls and rocks, within which the travellers had 
been so long inclosed, now occasionally presented openings, 
through which they were enabled to ascend to the plain, and to 
cut off considerable bends of the river. 

Throughout the whole extent of this vast and singular chasm, 
the scenery of the river is said to be of the most wild and ro- 
mantic character. The rocks present every variety of masses 



256 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



and grouping. Numerous small streams come rushing and boil- 
ing through narrow clefts and ravines : one of a considerable size 
issued from the face of a precipice, within twenty-five feet of its 
summit ; and after running in nearly a horizontal line for about 
one hundred feet, fell, by numerous small cascades, to the rocky 
bank of the river. 

In its career through this vast and singular defile, Snake River 
is upwards of three hundred yards wide, and as clear as spring 
water. Sometimes it steals along with a tranquil and noiseless 
course ; at other times, for miles and miles, it dashes on in a 
thousand rapids, wild and beautiful to the eye, and lulling the 
ear with the soft tumult of plashing waters. 

Many of the tributary streams of Snake River, rival it in the 
wildness and picturesqueness of their scenery. That called the 
Bruneau is particularly cited. It runs through a tremendous 
chasm, rather than a valley, extending upwards of a hundred and 
fifty miles. You come upon it on a sudden, in traversing a level 
plain. It seems as if you could throw a stone across from cliff 
to clifi" ; yet, the valley is near two thousand feet deep : so that 
the river looks like an inconsiderable stream. Basaltic rocks 
rise perpendicularly, so that it is impossible to get from the plain 
to the water, or from the river margin to the plain. The current 
is bright and limpid. Hot springs are found on the borders of 
this river. One bursts out of the clifi's forty feet above the river, 
in a stream sufficient to turn a mill, and sends up a cloud of 
vapor. 

We find a characteristic picture of this volcanic region of 
mountains and streams, furnished by the journal of Mr. Wyeth, 
which lies before us ; who ascended a peak in the neighborhood 
we are describing. From this summit, the country, he says, ap- 



SHOSHOKOE INDIANS. 257 



pears an indescribable chaos ; the tops of the hills exhibit the 
game strata as far as the eye can reach ; and appear to have once 
formed the level of the country ; and the valleys to be formed by 
the sinking of the earth, rather than the rising of the hills. 
Through the deep cracks and chasms thus formed, the rivers and 
brooks make their way, which renders it difficult to follow them. 
All these basaltic channels are called cut rocks by the trappers. 
Many of the mountain streams disappear in the plains ; either 
absorbed by their thirsty soil, and by the porous surface of the 
lava, or swallowed up in gulfs and chasms. 

On the l'2th of January (1834), Captain Bonneville reached 
Powder River ; much the largest stream that he had seen since 
leaving the Portneuf He struck it about three miles above its 
entrance into Snake River. Here he found himself above the 
lower narrows and defiles of the latter river, and in an open and 
level country. The natives now made their appearance in consi- 
derable numbers, and evinced the most insatiable curiosity re- 
specting the white men ; sitting in groups for hours together, 
exposed to the bleakest winds, merely for the pleasure of gazing 
upon the strangers, and watching every movement. These are of 
that branch of the great Snake tribe called Shoshokoes, or Root 
Diggers, from their subsisting, in a great measure, on the roots of 
the earth ; though they likewise take fish in great quantities, and 
hunt, in a small way. They are, in general, very poor ; destitute 
of most of the comforts of life, and extremely indolent : but a 
mild, inoffensive race. They difi"er, in many respects, from 
the other branch of the Snake tribe, the Shoshonies ; who 
possess horses, are more roving and adventurous, and hunt the 
bufTalo. 

On the following day, as Captain Bonneville approached the 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



mouth of Powder River, he discovered at least a hundred families 
of these Diggers, as they are familiarly called, assembled in one 
place. The women and children kept at a distance, perched 
among the rocks and cliffs ; their eager curiosity being somewhat 
dashed with fear. From their elevated posts, they scrutinized 
the strangers with the most intense earnestness ; regarding them 
with almost as much awe as if they had been beings of a super- 
natural order. 

The men, however, were by no means so shy and reserved ; 
but importuned Captain Bonneville and his companions excess- 
ively by their curiosity. Nothing escaped their notice ; and any 
thing they could lay their hands on, underwent the most minute 
examination. To get rid of such inquisitive neighbors, the tra- 
vellers kept on for a considerable distance, before they encamped 
for the night. 

The country, hereabout, was generally level and sandy ; pro- 
ducing very little grass, but a considerable quantity of sage or 
wormwood. The plains were diversified by isolated hills, all cut 
off, as it were, about the same height, so as to have tabular sum- 
mits. In this they resembled the isolated hills of the great 
prairies, east of the Rocky Mountains ; especially those found on 
the plains of the Arkansas. 

The high precipices which had hitherto walled in the channel 
of Snake River, had now disappeared ; and the banks were of the 
ordinary height. It should be observed, that the great valleys 
or plains, through which the Snake River wound its course, were 
generally of great breadth, extending on each side from thirty to 
forty miles : where the view was bounded by unbroken ridges of 
mountains. 

The travellers found but little snow in the neighborhood of 



HUNTING THE ANTELOPE. 



Powder River, though the weather continued intensely cold. 
They learnt a lesson, however, from their forlorn friends, the 
Root Diggers, which they subsequently found of great service in 
their wintry wanderings. They frequently observed them to be 
furnished with long ropes, twisted from the bark of the worm- 
wood. This they used as a slow match, carrying it always 
lighted. Whenever they wished to warm themselves, they would 
gather together a little dry wormwood, apply the match, and in an 
instant produce a cheering blaze. 

Captain Bonneville gives a cheerless account of a village of 
these Diggers, which he saw in crossing the plain below Powder 
River. '• They live," says he, " without any further protection 
from the inclemency of the season, than a sort of break-weather, 
about three feet high, composed of sage, (or wormwood,) and 
erected around them in the shape of a half moon." Whenever 
he met with them, however, they had always a large suite of half- 
starved dogs : for these animals, in savage as well as in civilized 
life, seem to be the concomitants of beggary. 

These dogs, it must be allowed, were of more use than the 
beggarly curs of cities. The Indian children used them in hunt- 
ing the small game of the neighborhood, such as rabbits and 
prairie dogs ; in which mongrel kind of chase they acquitted 
themselves with some credit. 

Sometimes the Diggers aspire to nobler game, and succeed in 
entrapping the antelope, the fleetest animal of the prairies. The 
process by which this is effected is somewhat singular. When 
the snow has disappeared, says Captain Bonneville, and the 
ground become soft, the women go into the thickest fields of 
wormwood, and pulling it up in great quantities, construct with 
it a hedge, about three feet high, inclosing about a hundred acres. 



260 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



A single opening is left for the admission of the game. This 
done, the women conceal themselves behind the wormwood, and 
wait patiently for the coming of the antelopes ; which sometimes 
enter this spacious trap in considerable numbers. As soon as 
thej are in, the women give the signal, and the men hasten to 
play their part. But one of them enters the pen at a time : and, 
after chasing the terrified animals round the inclosure, is relieved 
by one of his companions. In this way the hunters take their 
turns, relieving each other, and keeping up a continued pursuit 
by relays, without fatigue to themselves. The poor antelopes, in 
the end, are so wearied down, that the whole party of men enter 
and dispatch them with clubs : not one escaping that has entered 
the inclosure. The most curious circumstance in this chase is, 
that an animal so fleet and agile as the antelope, and straining for 
its life, should range round and round this fated inclosure, with- 
out attempting to overleap the low barrier which surrounds it. 
Such, however, is said to be the fact ; and such their only mode 
of hunting the antelope. 

Notwithstanding the absence of all comfort and convenience 
in their habitations, and the general squalidness of their appear- 
ance, the Shoshokoes do not appear to be destitute of ingenuity. 
They manufacture good ropes, and even a tolerably fine thread, 
from a sort of weed found in their neighborhood ; and construct 
bowls and jugs out of a kind of basket-work formed from small 
strips of wood plaited : these, by the aid of a little wax, they 
render perfectly water tight. Beside the roots on which they 
mainly depend for subsistence, they collect great quantities of 
seed, of various kinds, beaten with one hand out of the tops of 
the plants into wooden bowls held for that purpose. The seed 
thus collected is winnowed and parched, and ground between two 



VANITY IN ITS NAKED STATE. 261 



stones into a kind of meal or flour ; which, when mixed with 
water, forms a very pahatable paste or gruel. 

Some of these people, more provident and industrious than 
the rest, lay up a stock of dried salmon, and other fish, for winter : 
with these, they were ready to traffic with the travellers for any 
objects of utility in Indian life ; giving a large quantity in ex- 
change for an awl, a knife, or a fish-hook. Others were in the 
most abject state of want and starvation ; and would even gather 
up the fish-bones which the travellers threw away after a repast, 
warm them over again at the fire, and pick them with the great- 
est avidity. 

The farther Captain Bonneville advanced into the country 
of these Root Diggers, the more evidence he perceived of their 
rude and forlorn condition. '• They were destitute," says he, 
" of the necessary covering to protect them from the weather ; 
and seemed to be in the most unsophisticated ignorance of any 
other propriet}'^ or advantage in the use of clothing. Une old 
dame had absolutely nothing on her person but a thread round 
her neck, from which was pendent a solitary bead." 

What stage of human destitution, however, is too destitute 
for vanity ! Though these naked and forlorn-looking beings had 
neither toilet to arrange, nor beauty to contemplate, their great- 
est passion was for a mirror. It was a " great medicine," in their 
eyes. The sight of one was sufficient, at any time, to throw them 
into a paroxysm of eagerness and delight ; and they were ready 
to give any thing they had, for the smallest fragment in wliich 
they might behold their squalid features. With this simple 
instance of vanity, in its primitive but vigorous state, we shall 
close our remarks on the Root Diggers. 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Temperature of the climate. — Root Diggers on horseback. — An Indian guide. 
— Mountain prospects. — The Grand Rond. — Difficulties on Snake River. — 
A scramble over the Blue Mountains. — Sufferings from hunger. — Prospect 
of the Immahah valley. — The exhausted traveller. 

The temperature of the regions west of the Rocky Mountains is 
much milder than in the same latitudes on the Atlantic side ; the 
upper plains, however, which lie at a distance from the sea-coast, 
are subject in winter to considerable vicissitude ; being traversed 
by loffy "" sierras," crowned with perpetual snow, which often 
produce flaws and streaks of intense cold. This was experienced 
by Captain Bonneville and his companions in their progress 
westward. At the time when they left the Bannecks, Snake 
Biver was frozen hard : as they proceeded, the ice became broken 
and floating ; it gradually disappeared, and the weather became 
warm and pleasant, as they approached a tributary stream called 
the Little Wyer ; and the soil, which was generally of a watery 
clay, with occasional intervals of sand, was soft to the tread of 
the horses. After a time, however, the mountains approached 
and flanked the river ; the snow lay deep in the valleys, and the 
current was once more icebound. 

Here they were visited by a party of Boot Diggers, who were 
apparently rising in the world, for they had " horse to ride and 



A SLIPPERY GUIDE. 263 



weapon to wear," and were altogether better clad and equipped 
than any of the tribe that Captain Bonneville had met with. 
They were just from the plain of Boisee Kiver, where they had 
left a number of their tribe, all as well provided as themselves ; 
having guns, horses, and comfortable clothing. All these they 
obtained from the Lower Nez Perces, with whom they were in 
habits of frequent traffic. They appeared to have imbibed from 
that tribe -their noncombative principles, being mild and inoffen- 
sive in their manners. Like them, also, they had something of 
religious feelings ; for Captain Bonneville observed that, before 
eating, they washed their hands, and made a short prayer ; which 
he understood was their invariable custom. From these Indians, 
he obtained a considerable supply of fish, and an excellent and 
well-conditioned horse, to replace one which had become too weak 
for the journey. 

The travellers now moved forward with renovated spirits ; 
the snow, it is true, lay deeper and deeper as they advanced, but 
they trudged on merrily, considering themselves well provided 
for the journey, which could not be of much longer duration. 

They had intended to proceed up the banks of Grun Creek, 
a stream which flows into Snake River from the west ; but were 
assured by the natives that the route in that direction was 
impracticable. The latter advised them to keep along Snake 
River, where they would not be impeded by the snow. Taking 
one of the Diggers for a guide, they set off along the river, and 
to their joy soon found the country free from snow, as had been 
predicted, so that their horses once more had the benefit of 
tolerable pasturage. Their Digger proved an excellent guide, 
trudging cheerily in the advance. He made an unsuccessful 
shot or two at a deer and a beaver ; but at night found a rabbit 



264 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



hole, whence he extracted the occupant, upon which, with the 
addition of a fish given him by the travellers, he made a hearty 
supper, and retired to rest, filled with good cheer and good- 
humor. 

The next day the travellers came to where the hills closed 
upon the river, leaving here and there intervals of undulating 
meadow land. The river was sheeted with ice, broken into hills 
at long intervals. The Digger kept on ahead of the party, cross- 
ing and recrossing the river in pursuit of game, until, unluckily, 
encountering a brother Digger, he stole ofi" with him, without the 
ceremony of leave-taking. 

Being now left to themselves, they jDroceeded until they came 
to some Indian huts, the inhabitants of which spoke a language 
totally different from any they had yet heard. One, however, 
understood the Nez Perce language, and through him they made 
inquiries as to their route. These Indians were extremely kind 
and honest, and furnished them with a small quantity of meat ; 
but none of them could be induced to act as guides. 

Immediately in the route of the travellers lay a high moun- 
tain, which they ascended with some difficulty. The prospect 
from the summit was grand but disheartening. Directly before 
them towered the loftiest peaks of Immahah, rising far higher 
than the elevated ground on which they stood : on the other 
hand, they were enabled to scan the course of the river, dashing 
along through deep chasms, between rocks and precipices, until 
lost in a distant wilderness of mountains, which closed the savage 
landscape. 

They remained for a long time contemplating, with perplexed 
and anxious eye, this wild congregation of mountain barriers, 
and seeking to discover some practicable passage. The approach 



SNAKE RIVER MOUNTAIN. 265 



of evening obliged them to give up the task, and to seek some 
camping ground for the night. Moving briskly forward, and 
plunging and tossing through a succession of deep snow-drifts, 
they at length reached a valley known among trappers as the 
" Grrand Rond," which they found entirely free from snow. 

This is a beautiful and very fertile valley, about twenty miles 
long and five or six broad ; a bright cold stream called the 
FouTche de- Glace^ or Ice River, runs through it. Its sheltered 
situation, embosomed in mountains, renders it good pasturing 
ground in the winter time ; when the elk come down to it in 
great numbers, driven out of the mountains by the snow. The 
Indians then resort to it to hunt. They likewise come to it in 
the summer time to dig the camash root, of which it produces 
immense quantities. When this plant is in blossom, the whole 
valley is tinted by its blue flowers, and looks like the ocean, 
when overcast by a cloud. 

After passing a night in this valley, the travellers in the 
morning scaled the neighboring hills, to look out for a more eli- 
gible route than that upon which they had unluckily fallen ; and, 
after much reconnoitring, determined to make their way once 
more to the river, and to travel upon the ice when the banks 
should prove impassable. 

On the second day after this determination, they were again 
upon Snake River, but, contrary to their expectations, it was 
nearly free from ice. A narrow riband ran along the shore, and 
sometimes there was a kind of bridge across the stream, formed 
of old ice and snow. For a short time, they jogged along the 
bank, with tolerable facility, but at length came to where the 
river forced its way into the heart of the mountains, winding 
between tremendous walls of basaltic rock, that rose perpendicu- 

12 



266 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



larly from the water edge, frowning in bleak and gloomy gran- 
deur. Here difficulties of all kinds beset their path. The snow 
was from two to three feet deep, but soft and yielding, so that 
the horses had no foothold, but kept plunging forward, straining 
themselves by perpetual efforts. Sometimes the crags and pro- 
montories forced them upon the narrow riband of ice that bor- 
dered the shore ; sometimes they had to scramble over vast 
masses of rock which had tumbled from the impending precipices ; 
sometimes they had to cross the stream upon the hazardous 
bridges of ice and snow, sinking to the knee at every step ; some- 
times they had to scale slippery acclivities, and to pass along 
narrow cornices, glazed with ice and sleet, a shouldering wall of 
rock on one side, a yawning precipice on the other, where a sin- 
gle false step would have been fatal. In a lower and less dan- 
gerous pass, two of their horses actually fell into the river : one 
was saved with much difficulty, but the boldness of the shore 
prevented their rescuing the other, and he was swept away by the 
rapid current. 

In this way they struggled forward, manfully braving diffi- 
culties and dangers, until they came to where the bed of the river 
was narrowed to a mere chasm, with perpendicular walls of rock 
that defied all further progress. Turning their faces now to the 
mountain, they endeavored to cross directly over it : but. after 
clambering nearly to the summit, found their path closed by in- 
surmountable barriers. 

Nothing now remained but to retrace their steps. To descend 
a cragged mountain, however, was more difficult and dangerous 
than to ascend it. They had to lower themselves, cautiously and 
slowly, from steep to steep ; and, while they managed with diffi- 
culty to maintain their own footing, to aid their horses by hold- 



A MOUNTAIN SCRAMBLE. 267 



iiig on firmly to the rope halters, as the poor animals stumbled 
among slippery rocks, or slid down icy declivities. Thus, after 
a day of intense cold, and severe and incessant toil, amidst the 
wildest of scenery, they managed, about nightfall, to reach the 
camping ground, from which they had started in the morning, 
and for the first time in the course of their rugged and perilous 
expedition, felt their hearts quailing under their multiplied hard- 
ships. 

A hearty supper, a tranquillizing pipe, and a sound night's 
sleep, put them all in better mood, and in the morning they held 
a consultation as to their future movements. About four miles 
behind, they had remarked a small ridge of mountains approach- 
ing closely to the river. It was determined to scale this ridge, 
and seek a passage into the valley which must lie beyond. Should 
they fail in this, but one alternative remained. To kill their 
horses, dry the flesh for provisions, make boats of the hides, and, 
in these, commit themselves to the stream — a measure hazardous 
in the extreme. 

A short march brought them to the foot of the mountain, 
but its steep and cragged sides almost discouraged hope. The 
only chance of scaling it was by broken masses of rock, piled 
one upon another, which formed a succession of crags, reaching 
nearly to the summit. Up these they wrought their way with 
indescribable diflS.culty and peril, in a zigzag course, climbing 
from rock to rock, and helping their horses up after them ; which 
scrambled among tlie crags like mountain goats ; now and then 
dislodging some huge stone, which, the moment they had left it, 
would roll down the mountain, crashing and rebounding with 
terrific din. It was some time after dark before they reached a 
kind of platform on the summit of the mountain, where they 



268 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



could venture to encamp. The winds, which swept this naked 
height, had whirled all the snow into the valley beneath, so that 
the horses found tolerable winter pasturage on the dry grass 
which remained exposed. The travellers, though hungry in the 
extreme, were fain to make a very frugal supper ; for they saw 
their journey was likely to be prolonged much beyond the antici- 
pated term. 

In fact, on the following day they discerned that, although 
already at a great elevation, they were only as yet upon the 
shoulder of the mountain. It proved to be a great sierra, or 
ridge, of immense height, running parallel to the course of the 
river, swelling by degrees to lofty peaks, but the outline gashed 
by deep and precipitous ravines. This, in fact, was a part of the 
chain of Blue Mountains, in which the first adventurers to Asto- 
ria experienced such hardships. 

We will not pretend to accompany the travellers step by step 
in this tremendous mountain scramble, into which they had un- 
consciously betrayed themselves. Day after day did their toil 
continue ; peak after peak had they to traverse, struggling with 
difficulties and hardships known only to the mountain trapper. 
As their course lay north, they had to ascend the southern faces 
of the heights, where the sun had melted the snow, so as to ren- 
der the ascent wet and slippery, and to keep both men and horses 
continually on the strain ; while on the northern sides, the snow 
lay in such heavy masses, that it was necessary to beat a track, 
down which the horses might be led. Every now and then, also, 
their way was impeded by tall and numerous pines, some of which 
had fallen, and lay in every direction. 

In the midst of these toils and hardships, their provisions 
gave out. For three days they were without food, and so reduced 



THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. 269 



that they could scarcely drag themselves along. At length one of 
the mules, being about to give out from fatigue and famine, they 
hastened to dispatch him. Husbanding this miserable supply, 
they dried the flesh, and for three days subsisted upon the nutri- 
ment extracted from the bones. As to the meat, it was packed 
and preserved as long as they could do without it, not know- 
ing how long they might remain bewildered in these desolate 
regions. 

One of the men was now dispatched ahead, to reconnoitre the 
country, and to discover, if possible, some more practicable route. 
In the meantime, the rest of the party moved on slowly. After a 
lapse of three days, the scout rejoined them. He informed them 
that Snake E-iver ran immediately below the sierra or mountain- 
ous ridge, upon which they were travelling ; that it was free from 
precipices, and was at no great distance from them in a direct 
line ; but that it would be impossible for tliem to reach it with- 
out making a weary circuit. Their only course would be to cross 
the mountain ridge to the left. 

Up this mountain, therefore, the weary travellers directed 
their steps ; and the ascent, in their present weak and exhausted 
state, was one of the severest parts of this most painful journey. 
For two days were they toiling slowly from cliff to cliff, beating 
at every step a path through the snow for their faltering horses. 
At length they reached the summit, where the snow was blown 
off; but in descending on the opposite side, they were often 
plunging through deep drifts, piled in the hollows and ravines. 

Their provisions were now exhausted, and they and their 
horses almost ready to give out with fatigue and hunger ; when 
one afternoon, just as the sun was sinking behind a blue line of 
distant mountain, they came to the brow of a height from which 



270 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



they beheld the smooth valley of the Immahah stretched out in 
smiling verdure below them. 

The sight inspired almost a frenzy of delight. Roused to 
new ardor, they forgot, for a time, their fatigues, and hurried down 
the mountain, dragging their jaded horses after them, and some- 
times compelling them to slide a distance of thirty or forty feet 
at a time. At length they reached the banks of the Immahah. 
The young grass was just beginning to sprout, and the whole 
valley wore an aspect of softness, verdure, and repose, heightened 
by the contrast of the frightful region from which they had just 
descended. To add to their joy, they observed Indian trails 
along the margin of the stream, and other signs, which gave them 
reason to believe that there was an encampment of the Lower 
Nez Perces in the neighborhood, as it was within the accustomed 
range of that pacific and hospitable tribe. 

The prospect of a supply of food stimulated them to new 
exertion, and they continued on as fast as the enfeebled state of 
themselves and their steeds would permit. At length, one of the 
men, more exhausted than the rest, threw himself upon the grass, 
and declared he could go no further. It was in vain to attempt 
to rouse him ; his spirit had given out, and his replies only 
showed the dogged apathy of despair. His companions, therefore, 
encamped on the spot, kindled a blazing fire, and searched about 
for roots with which to strengthen and revive him. They all then 
made a starveling repast ; but gathering round the fire, talked 
over past dangers and troubles, soothed themselves with the per- 
suasion that all were now at an end, and went to sleep with the 
comforting hope that the morrow would bring them into plentiful 
quarters. 



AN INDIAN CAVALIER. 271 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Progress in the valley. — An Indian cavalier. — The captain falls into a lethar- 
gy. — A Nez Perc^ patriarch. — Hospitable treatment. — The bald head. — 
Bargaining. — Value of an old plaid cloak. — The family horse. — The cost 
of an Indian present. 

A TRANQUIL night's rest had sufficiently restored the broken- 
down traveller, to enable him to resume his wayfaring, and all 
hands set forward on the Indian trail. With all their eagerness 
to arrive within reach of succor, such was their feeble and ema- 
ciated condition, that they advanced but slowly. Nor is it a 
matter of surprise that they should almost have lost heart, as 
well as strength. It was now (the 16th of February) fifty-three 
days that they had been travelling in the midst of winter, 
exposed to all kinds of privations and hardships : and for the 
last twenty days, they had been entangled in the wild and deso- 
late labyrinths of the snowy mountains ; climbing and descending 
icy precipices, and nearly starved with cold and hunger. 

All the morning they continued following the Indian trail, 
without seeing a human being, and were beginning to be discour- 
aged, when, about noon, they discovered a horseman at a distance. 
He was coming directly towards them ; but on discovering them, 
suddenly reined up his steed, came to a halt, and, after reconnoi- 
vYing them for a time with great earnestness, seemed about to 



BONNEVILLE'S ADTENTTRES. 



make a cautious retreat. They eagerly made signs of peace, and 
endearored, with the utmost anxiety, to induce him to approach. 
He remained for some time in doubt : but at length. haTuig 
satisfied himself that they were not enemies, came galloping up 
to them. He was a fine, haughty-looking savage, fancifully deco- 
rated, and mounted on a high-mettled steed, with gaudy trappings 
and equipments. It was evident that he was a warrior of some con- 
sequence among his tribe. His whole deportment had something 
in it of barbaric dignity : he felt, perhaps, his temporary superi- 
ority in personal array, and in the spirit of his steed, to the poor, 
ragged, travel-worn trappers, and their half-starved horses. Ap- 
proaching them with an air of protection, he gave them his hand, 
and, in the Nei Perce language, invited them to his camp, which 
was only a few miles distant : where he had plenty to eat. and 
plenty of horses, and would cheerfully share his g^x^ things 
with them. 

His hospitable invitation was joyfully acc-epted : he lingered 
but a moment, to give directions by which they might find his 
camp, and then, wheeling round, and giving the reins to his met- 
tlesome steed, was soon out of sight. The travellers followed, 
with gladdened hearts, but at a snail's pace : for their poor horses 
could scarcely drag one leg at\er the other. Captain Bonneville, 
however, experienced a sudden and singular change of feeling. 
Hitherto, the necessity of conducting his party, and of prx^v" ' _ 
against every emergency, had kept his mind upon the s: r 
and his whole system braced and excited. In no one instance had 
he flagged in spirit, or felt disposed to succumK Xow, however, 
that all danger was over, and the man?h of a few miles would 
bring them to repose and abundance, his energies suddenly 
deserted him : and every faculty, mental and physical, was 



KEZ PERCE HOSPITALITY. 993 



totiJlj relaxed. He had not proceeded two miles from the point 
where he had had the interview with the Xei Peree chief, when he 
threw himself upon the earth, without the jK>wer or will to move 
a muscle, or exert a thought, and Sitnk almost instantly into a 
profound and dreamless sleep. His companions again came to a 
halt, and encamped beside him. and there they passed the night. 

The next morning. Captain Bonneville awakened from his 
long and heavy sleep, much refreshed ; and they all resumed 
their creeping progress. They had not been long on the maroh^ 
when eight or ten of the Nez Perce tribe came galloping to meet 
them, leading fresh horses to bear them to their camp. Thus 
gallantly mounted, they felt new life infused into their languid 
frames, and dashing forward, were soon at the lodges of the Xei 
Percx's. Here they found about twelve families living together, 
under the patriarchal sway of an ancient and venerable chief 
He received them with the hospitality of the golden age, and 
with something of the same kind of fare : for. while he opened 
his arms to make them welcome, the only repast he set before 
them consisted of roots. They could have wished for something 
more hearty and substantial ; bxit, for want of better, made a 
voracious meal on these humble viands. The repast being over, 
the best pipe was lighted and sent round : and this Wiis a most 
welcome luxury, having lost their smoking apparatus twelve days 
before, among the mountains. 

While they were thus enjoying themselves, their poor horses 
were led to the best pastures in the neighborhood, where they 
were turned loose to revel on the fresh sprouting grass ; so that 
they had Wtter fare than their masters. 

Captaiu Bonneville soon felt himself quite at home among 
these quiet, inoffensive people. His long residence among their 

12* 



274 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



cousins, the Upper Nez Perces. had made him conversant with 
their language, modes of expression, and all their habitudes. He 
soon found, too, that he was well known among them, by report, 
at least, from the constant interchange of visits and messages 
between the two branches of the tribe. They at first addressed 
him by his name ; giving him his title of captain, with a French 
accent : but they soon gave him a title of their own ; which, as 
usual with Indian titles, had a peculiar signification. In the case 
of the captain, it had somewhat of a whimsical origin. 

As he sat chatting and smoking in the midst of them, he 
would occasionally take off his cap. Whenever he did so, there 
was a sensation in the surrounding circle. The Indians would 
half rise from their recumbent posture, and gaze upon his uncov- 
ered head, with their usual exclamation of astonishment. The 
worthy captain was completely bald ; a phenomenon very sur- 
prising in their eyes. They were at a loss to know whether he 
had been scalped in battle, or enjoyed a natural immunity from 
that belligerent infliction. In a little whilrj, he became known 
among them by an Indian name, signifying " the bald chief" 
" A soubriquet," observes the captain, '• for which I can find no 
parallel in history since the days of ' Charles the Bald' " 

Although the travellers had banqueted on roots, and been re- 
galed with tobacco smoke, yet, their stomachs craved more gener- 
ous fare. In approaching the lodges of the Nez Perces," they had 
indulged in fond anticipations of venison and dried salmon ; and 
dreams of the kind still haunted their imaginations, and could 
not be conjured down. The keen appetites of mountain trappers, 
quickened by a fortnight's fasting, at length got the better of all 
scruples of pride, and they fairly begged some fish or flesh from 
the hospitable savages. The latter, however, were slow to break 



THE OLD PLAID CLOAK. 275 



in upon their winter store, which was very limited ; but were 
ready to furnish roots in abundance, which they pronounced ex- 
cellent food. At length, Captain Bonneville thought of a means 
of attaining the much-coveted gratification. 

He had about him, he says, a trusty plaid ; an old and valued 
travelling companion and comforter ; upon which the rains had 
descended, and the snows and winds beaten, without further effect 
than somewhat to tarnish its primitive lustre. This coat of many 
colors had excited the admiration, and inflamed the covetousness 
of both warriors and squaws, to an extravagant degree. An idea 
now occurred to Captain Bonneville, to convert this rainbow gar- 
ment into the savory viands so much desired. There was a mo- 
mentary struggle in his mind, between old associations and pro- 
jected indulgence ; and his decision in favor of the latter was 
made, he says, with a greater promptness, perhaps, than true taste 
and sentiment might have required. In a few moments, his plaid 
cloak v/as cut into numerous strips. " Of these," continues he, 
" with the newly developed talent of a man-milliner, I speedily 
constructed turbans a la Turque^ and fanciful head-gears of divers 
conformations. These, judiciously distributed among such of the 
womenkind as seemed of most consequence and interest in the 
eyes of the imtrcs conscrijM^ brought us, in a little while, abun- 
dance of dried salmon and deers' hearts ; on which we made a 
sumptuous supper. Another, and a more satisfactory smoke, 
succeeded this repast, and sweet slumbers answering the peaceful 
invocation of our pipes, wrapped us in that delicious rest, whicli 
is only won by toil and travail." 

As to Captain Bonneville, he slept in the lodge of the vener- 
able patriarch, who had evidently conceived a most disinterested 
affection for him ; as was shown on the following morning. The 



276 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



trav'ellers, imngorated by a good supper, and " fresh from the 
bath of repose," were about to resume their journey, when this 
affectionate old chief took the captain aside, to let him know how 
much he loved him. As a proof of his regard, he had deter- 
mined to give him a fine horse, which would go further than 
words, and jmt his good-will beyond all question. So saying, he 
made a signal, and forthwith a beautiful young horse, of a brown 
color, was led, prancing and snorting, to the place. Captain 
Bonneville was suitably ajQfected by this mark of friendship ; but 
his experience in what is proverbially called " Indian giving," 
made him aware that a parting pledge was necessary on his own 
part, to prove that his friendship was reciprocated. He accord- 
ingly placed a handsome rifle in the hands of the venerable chief, 
whose benevolent heart was evidently touched and gratified by 
this outward and visible sign of amity. 

Having now, as he thought, balanced this little account of 
friendship, the captain was about to shift his saddle to this noble 
gift-horse, when the affectionate patriarch plucked him by the 
sleeve, and introduced to him a whimpering, whining, leathern- 
skinned old squaw, that might have passed for an Egyptian 
mummy, without drj^ing. '• This," said he, " is my wife ; she is 
a good wife — I love her very much. — She loves the horse — she 
loves him a great deal — she will cry very much at losing him. — 
I do not know how I shall comfort her — and that makes my 
heart very sore." 

What could the worthy captain do. to console the tender- 
hearted old squaw, and, peradventure, to save the venerable patri- 
arch from a curtain lecture ? He bethought himself of a pair of 
ear-bobs : it was true, the patriarch's better-half was of an age 
and appearance that seemed to put personal vanity out of the 



THE GIFT-HORSE. 277 



question, but when is personal vanity extinct ? The moment he 
produced the glittering ear-bobs, the whimpering and whining of 
the sempiternal beldame was at an end. She eagerly placed 
the precious baubles in her ears, and, though as ugly as the Witch 
of Endor, went ofif with a sideling gait, and coquettish air, as 
though she had been a perfect Semiramis. 

The captain had now saddled his newly acquired steed, and 
his foot was in the stirrup, when the affectionate patriarch again 
stepped forward, and presented to him a young Pierced-nose, who 
had a peculiarly sulky look. " This," said the venerable chief, 
" is my son : he is very good ; a great horseman — he always took 
care of this very fine horse — he brought him up from a colt, and 
made him what he is. — He is very fond of this fine horse — he 
loves him like a brother — his heart will be very heavy when this 
fine horse leaves the camp." 

What could the captain do, to reward the youthful hope of 
this venerable pair, and comfort him for the loss of his foster- 
brother, the horse ? He bethought him of a hatchet, which might 
be spared from his slender stores. No sooner did he place the 
implement in the hands of young hopeful, than his countenance 
brightened up, and he went off rejoicing in his hatchet, to the 
full as much as did his respectable mother in her ear-bobs. 

The captain was now in the saddle, and about to start, when 
the affectionate old patriarch stepped forward, for the third time, 
and, while he laid one hand gently on the mane of the horse, 
held up the rifle in the other. " This rifle," said he, " shall be 
my great medicine. I will hug it to my heart — I will always 
love it, for the sake of my good friend, the bald-headed chief. — 
But a rifle, by itself, is dumb — I cannot make it speak. If I had 
a little powder and ball, I would take it out with me, and would 



979 BONNE V^ILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



now and then shoot a deer ; and when I brought the meat home 
to my hungry family, I would say — This was killed by the rifle 
of my friend, the bald-headed chief, to whom I gave that very 
fine horse." 

There was no resisting this appeal : the captain, forthwith, 
furnished the coveted supply of powder and ball ; but at the 
same time, put spurs to his very fine gift-horse, and the first trial 
of his speed was to get out of all further manifestation of friend- 
ship, on the part of the afi'ectionate old patriarch and his insinu- 
ating family. 



NEZ PERCE CAMP. 279 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

Nez Perce camp. — A chief with a hard name. — The Big Hearts of the east. — 
Hospitable treatment. — The Indian guides. — Mysterious councils. — The 
loquacious chief. — Indian tomb. — Grand Indian reception. — An Indian 
feast. — Town- criers. — Honesty of the Nez Perces. — The captain's attempt 
at healing. 

Following the course of the Tmmahah, Captain Bonneville and 
his three companions soon reached the vicinity of Snake River. 
Their route now lay over a succession of steep and isolated hills, 
with profound valleys. On the second day, after taking leave of 
the affectionate old patriarch, as they were descending into one 
of those deep and abrupt intervals, they descried a smoke, and 
shortly afterwards came in sight of a small encampment of Nez 
Perces. 

The Indians, when they ascertained that it was a party of 
white men approaching, greeted them with a salute of firearms, 
and invited them to encamp. This band was likewise under the 
sway of a venerable chief named Yo-mus-ro-y-e-cut ; a name 
which we shall be careful not to inflict oftener than is necessary 
upon the reader. This ancient and hard-named chieftain, wel- 
comed Captain Bonneville to his camp with the same hospitality 
and loving-kindness that he had experienced from his predeces- 
sor. He told the captain that he had often heard of the Ameri- 



280 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



cans and their generous deeds, and that his buffalo brethren (the 
Upper Nez Perces) had always spoken of them as the Big-hearted 
whites of the East, the very good friends of the Nez Perces. 

Captain Bonneville felt somewhat uneasy under the responsi- 
bility of this magnanimous but costly appellation ; and began to 
fear he might be involved in a second interchange of pledges of 
friendship. He hastened, therefore, to let the old chief know his 
poverty-stricken state, and how little there was to be expected 
from him. 

He informed him that he and his comrades had long resided 
among the Upper Nez Perces, and loved them so nmch, that they 
had thrown their arms around them, and now held them close to 
their hearts. That he had received such good accounts from the 
Upper Nez Perces of their cousins, the Lower Nez Perces, that 
he had become desirous of knowing them as friends and brothers. 
That he and his companions had accordingly loaded a mule with 
presents and set oflf for the country of the Lower Nez Perces ; 
but, unfortunately, had been entrapped for many days among the 
snowy mountains ; and that the mule with all the presents had 
fallen into Snake Biver, and been swept away by the rapid cur- 
rent. That instead, therefore, of arriving among their friends, 
the Nez Perces, with light hearts and full hands, they came 
naked, hungry, and broken down ; and instead of making them 
presents, must depend upon them even for food. " But," con- 
cluded he, " we are going to the white men's fort on the Wallah- 
Wallah, and will soon return ; and then we will meet our Nez 
Perce friends like the true Big Hearts of the East." 

Whether the hint thrown out in the latter part of the speech 
had any effect, or whether the old chief acted from the hospita- 
ble feelings which, according to the captain, are really inherent 



SECRET CONSULTATIONS. 281 



in the Nez Perce tribe, he certainly showed no disposition to re- 
lax his friendship on learning the destitute circumstances of his 
guests. On the contrary, he urged the captain to remain with 
them until the following day, \^hen he would accompany him on 
his journey, and make him acquainted with all his people. In 
the meantime, he would have a colt killed, and cut up for travel- 
ling provisions. This, he carefully explained, was intended not 
as an article of trajffic, but as a gift ; for he saw that his guests 
were hungry and in need of food. 

Captain Bonneville gladly assented to this hospitable arrange- 
ment. The carcass of the colt was forthcoming in due season, 
but the captain insisted that one half of it should be set apart 
for the use of the chieftain's family. 

At an early hour of the following morning, the little party 
resumed their journey, accompanied by the old chief and an In- 
dian guide. Their route was over a rugged and broken country ; 
where the hills were slippery with ice and snow. Their horses, 
too, were so weak and jaded, that they could scarcely climb the 
steep ascents, or maintain their foothold on the frozen declivities. 
Throughout the whole of the journey, the old chief and the guide 
were unremitting in their good offices, and continually on the 
alert to select the best roads, and assist them through all diffi- 
culties. Indeed, the captain and liis comrades had to be depend- 
ent on their Indian friends for almost every thing, for they had 
lost their tobacco and pipes, those great comforts of the trapper, 
and had but a few charges of powder left, which it was necessary 
to husband for the purpose of lighting their fires. 

In the course of the day the old chief had several private 
consultations with the guide, and showed evident signs of being 
occupied with some mysterious matter of mighty import. What 



9|KI BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



it was. Captain Bonneville could not fathom, nor did he make 
mach effort to do so. From some casual sentences that he over- 
heard, he perceived that it was something from which the old 
man promised himself much satisfaction, and to which he attached 
a little vainglory, but which he wished to keep a secret ; so he 
suffered him to spin out his petty plans unmolested. 

In the evening when they encamped, the old chief and his 
privy counsellor, the guide, had another mysterious colloquy, 
after which the guide mounted his horse and departed on some 
secret mission, while the chief resumed his seat at the fire, and 
sat humming to himself in a pleasing but mystic reverie. 

The next morniug, the travellers descended into the valley of 
the Way-lee-way. a considerable tributary of Snake River. Here 
they met the guide returning from his secret errand. Another 
private conference was held between him and the old managing 
chief, who now seemed more inflated than ever with mystery and 
self-importance. Xumerous fresh trails, and various other signs, 
persuaded Captain Bonneville that there must be a considerable 
village of Nez Perces in the neighborhood ; but as his worthy 
companion, the old chief, said nothing on the subject, and as it 
appeared to be in some way connected with his secret operations, 
he asked no questions, but patiently awaited the development of 
his mystery. 

As they journeyed on, they came to where two or three 
Indians were bathing in a small stream. The good old chief 
immediately came to a halt, and had a long conversation with 
them, in the course of which, he repeated to them the whole 
history which Captain Bonneville had related to him. In fact, 
he seems to have been a very sociable, communicative old man : 
by no means afflicted with that taciturnitt generally charged 



A WARRIORS GRAVK, eSS 



upon The ludians. On the contxarT, he was fond of long talks 
auid long smokings, and evidently was prond of his new friend, 
the bald-headed chief, and took a pleasure in sounding his praises, 
and setting forth the power and glory of the Big Hearts of the 
KastK 

Having disburdened himself of every thing he had to relate 
:o his bathing friends, he left them to their aquatic disports, and 
proceeded iQ>nward with the captain and his companions. As 
they apprx>ached the Way-lee-way, however, the communicative 
old chief met with another and a very different oceasion to exert 
his coUo^^uial jK>wers^ On the banks of the river stood an 
isolated mound covered with grass. He pointed to it with some 
emotion, "The big heart and the strong arm." said he, '^lie 
bulled beneath that sod." 

It was, in fact, the grave of one of his friends : a chosen war- 
rior of the tribe : who had been slain on this spot when in pursuit 
of a war party of Shoshokoes, who had stolen the horses of the 
village. The enemy bore off his scalp as a trophy ; but his 
friends found his body in this lonely place, and committed it to 
the earth with ceremonials characteristic of their pious and rev- 
erential feelings. They gathered round the grave and mourned : 
the warriors were silent in their grief: but the womeai and chil- 
dren bewailed their loss with loud lamentations. "For three 
days," s^id the old man, *• we performed the solemn dances for 
the dead, and prayed the Great Spirit that our brother might be 
happy in the land of brave warriors and hunters. Then we 
killed at his grave fifteen of our best and strongest horses, to 
serve him when he should arrive at the happy hunting grounds ; 
and having done all this, we returned sorrowfully to our homes,'* 

While the chief was still talking, an Indian scout came gal- 



284 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



loping up, and, presenting him with a powder-horn, wheeled 
round, and was speedily out of sight. The eyes of the old chief 
now brightened ; and all his self-importance returned. His petty 
mystery was about to explode. Turning to Captain Bonneville, 
he pointed to a hill hard by, and informed him, that behind it 
was a village governed by a little chief, whom he had notified of 
the approach of the bald-headed chief, and a party of the Big 
Hearts of the East, and that he was prepared to receive them 
in becoming style. As, among other ceremonials, he intended to 
salute them with a discharge of firearms, he had sent the horn of 
gunpowder that they might return the salute in a manner corre- 
spondent to his dignity. 

They now proceeded on until they doubled the point of the 
hill, when the whole population of the village broke upon their 
view, drawn out in the most imposing style, and arrayed in all 
their finery. The eiFect of the whole was wild and fantastic, 
yet singularly striking. In the front rank were the chiefs and 
principal warriors, glaringly painted and decorated ; behind 
them were arranged the rest of the people, men, women, and 
children. 

Captain Bonneville and his party advanced slowly, exchanging 
salutes of firearms. When arrived within a respectful distance, 
they dismounted. The chiefs then came forward successively, 
according to their respective characters and consequence, to ofi'er 
the hand of good-fellowship ; each filing off when he had shaken 
hands, to make way for his successor. Those in the next rank fol- 
lowed in the same order, and so on, until all had given the pledge 
of friendship. During all this time, the chief, according to cus- 
tom, took his stand beside the guests. If any of his people 
advanced whom he judged unworthy of the friendship or confi- 



A FEAST. 285 



dence of the white men, he motioned them off bj a wave of the 
hand, and they would submissively walk away. When Captain 
Bonneville turned upon him an inquiring look, he would observe, 
" he was a bad man," or something quite as concise, and there 
was an end of the matter. 

Mats, poles, and other materials were now brought, and a 
comfortable lodge was soon erected for the strangers, where they 
were kept constantly supplied with wood and water, and other 
necessaries ; and all their effects were placed in safe keeping. 
Their horses, too, were unsaddled, and turned loose to graze, and 
a guard set to keep watch upon them. 

All this being adjusted, they were conducted to the main 
building or council house of the village, where an ample repast, 
or rather banquet, was spread, which seemed to realize all the 
gastronomical dreams that had tantalized them during their long 
starvation ; for here they beheld not merely fish and roots in 
abundance, but the flesh of deer and elk, and the choicest pieces 
of buffalo meat. It is needless to say how vigorously they 
acquitted themselves on this occasion, and how unnecessary it 
was for their hosts to practise the usual cramming principle of 
Indian hospitality. 

When the repast was over, a long talk ensued. The chief 
showed the same curiosity evinced by his tribe generally, to 
obtain information concerning the United States, of which they 
knew little but what they derived through their cousins, the 
Upper Nez Perces ; as their traffic is almost exclusively with the 
British traders of the Hudson's Bay Company. Captain Bonne- 
ville did his best to set forth the merits of his nation, and the 
importance of their friendship to the red men, in which he was 
ably seconded by his worthy friend, the old chief with the hard 



286 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



name, who did all that he could to glorify the Big Hearts of the 
East. 

The chief, and all present, listened with profound attention, 
and evidently with great interest ; nor were the important facts 
thus set forth, confined to the audience in the lodge ; for sen- 
tence after sentence was loudly repeated by a crier for the benefit 
of the whole village. 

This custom of promulgating every thing by criers, is not 
confined to the Nez Perces, but prevails among many other 
tribes. It has its advantage where there are no gazettes to 
publish the news of the day, or to report the proceedings of 
important meetings. And in fact, reports of this kind, viva voce, 
made in the hearing of all parties, and liable to be contradicted 
or corrected on the spot, are more likely to convey accurate 
information to the public mind, than those circulated through 
the press. The office of crier is generally filled by some old 
man, who is good for little else. A village has generally several 
of these walking newspapers, as they are termed by the whites, 
who go about proclaiming the news of the day, giving notice of 
public councils, expeditions, dances, feasts, and other ceremoni- 
als, and advertising any thing lost. While Captain Bonneville 
remained among the Nez Perces, if a glove, handkerchief, or any 
thing of similar value, was lost or mislaid, it was carried by the 
finder to the lodge of the chief, and proclamation was made by 
one of their criers, for the owner to come and claim his property. 

How difficult it is to get at the true character of these wan- 
dering tribes of the wilderness ! In a recent work, we have had 
to speak of this tribe of Indians from the experience of other 
traders who had casually been among them, and who represented 
them as selfish, inhospitable, exorbitant in their dealings, and 



THE CAPTAIN A MEDICINE MAN. 287 



mucli addicted to thieving :* Captain Bonneville, on the contrary, 
who resided much among them, and had repeated opportunities 
of ascertaining their real character, invariably speaks of them as 
kind and hospitable, scrupulously honest, and remarkable, above 
all other Indians that he had met with, for a strong feeling of 
religion. In fact, so enthusiastic is he in their praise, that he 
pronounces them, all ignorant and barbarous as they are by their 
condition, one of the purest-hearted people on the face of the 
earth. 

Some cures which Captain Bonneville had effected in simple 
cases, among the Upper Nez Perces, had reached the ears of 
their cousins here, and gained for him the reputation of a great 
medicine man. He had not been long in the village, therefore, 
before his lodge began to be the resort of the sick and the infirm. 
The captain felt the value of the reputation thus accidentally 
and cheaply acquired, and endeavored to sustain it. As he had 
arrived at that age when every man is, experimentally, something 
of a physician, he was enabled to turn to advantage the little 
knowledge in the healing art which he had casually picked up ; 
and was sufficiently successful in two or three cases, to convince 
the simple Indians that report had not exaggerated his medical 
talents. The only patient that effectually baffled his skill, or 
rather discouraged any attempt at relief, was an antiquated squaw 
with a churchyard cough, and one leg in the grave ; it being 
shrunk and rendered useless by a rheumatic affection. This was 
a case beyond his mark ; however, he comforted the old woman 
with a promise that he would endeavor to procure something to 
relieve her, at the fort on the Wallah- Wallah, and would bring 

* Vide Astoria, chap. Hi. 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



it on his return ; with which assurance her husband was so well 
satisfied, that he presented the captain with a colt, to be killed 
as provisions for the journey : a medical fee which was thankfully 
accepted. 

While among these Indians, Captain Bonneville unexpectedly 
found an owner for the horse which he had purchased from a 
Root Digger at the Big Wyer. The Indian satisfactorily proved 
that the horse had been stolen from him some time previous, by 
some unknown thief " However," said the considerate savage, 
"you got him in fair trade — ^you are more in want of horses 
than I am : keep him ; he is yours — he is a good horse ; use him 
well." 

Thus, in the continual experience of acts of kindness and 
generosity, which his destitute condition did not allow him to 
reciprocate, Captain Bonneville passed some short time among 
these good people, more and more impreiised with the general 
excellence of their character. 



SCENERY OF THE WAY-LEE-WAY. 289 



CHAPTER XXXIIL 

Scenery of the Way-lee-way. — A substitute for tobacco. — Sublime scenery of 
Snake River. — The garrulous old chief and his cousin. — A Nez Perc6 
meeting. — A stolen skin. — The scapegoat dog. — Mysterious conferences. 
— The little chief. — His hospitality. — The captain's account of the United 
States. — His healing skill. 

In resuming his journey, Captain Bonneville was conducted by 
the same Nez Perce guide, whose knowledge of the country 
was important in choosing the routes and resting places. He 
also continued to be accompanied by the worthy old chief with 
the hard name, who seemed bent upon doing the honors of 
the country, and introducing him to every branch of his tribe. 
The Way-lee-way, down the banks of which Captain Bonneville 
and his companions were now travelling, is a considerable stream 
winding through a succession of bold and beautiful scenes. 
Sometimes the landscape towered into bold and mountainous 
heights that partook of sublimity ; at other times, it stretched 
along the water side in fresh smiling meadows, and graceful 
undulating valleys. 

Frequently in their route they encountered small parties of 
the Nez Perces, with whom they invariably stopped to shake 
hands ; and who, generally, evinced great curiosity concerning 
them and their adventures ; a curiosity which never failed to be 
thoroughly satisfied by the replies of the worthy Yo-mus-ro-y- 

13 



290 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



e-cut, who kindly took upou himself to be spokesman of the 
party. 

The incessant smoking of pipes incident to the long talks of 
this excellent, but somewhat garrulous old chief, at length 
exhausted all his stock of tobacco, so that he had no longer a 
whiff with which to regale his white companions. In this emer- 
gency, he cut up the stem of his pipe into fine shavings, which 
he mixed with certain herbs, and thus manufactured a temporary 
succedaneum, to enable him to accompany his long colloquies and 
harangues with the customary fragrant cloud. 

If the scenery of the T\^iy-lee-way had charmed the travellers 
with its mingled amenity and grandeur, that which broke upon 
them on once more reaching Snake River, filled them with 
admiration and astonishment. At times, the river was overhung 
by dark and stupendous rocks, rising like gigantic walls and 
battlements ; these would be rent by wide and yawning chasms, 
that seemed to speak of past convulsions of nature. Sometimes 
the river was of a glassy smoothness and placidity ; at other 
times it roared along in impetuous rapids and foaming cascades. 
Here, the rocks were piled in the most fantastic crags and pre- 
cipices ; and in another place, they were succeeded by delightful 
valleys carpeted with groen-sward. The whole of this wild and 
varied scenery was dominated by immense mountains rearing 
their distant peaks into the clouds. - The grandeur and origi- 
nality of the views, presented on every side.'' says Captain Bon- 
neville, "beggar both the pencil and the pen. Nothing we had 
ever gazed upon in any other region could for a moment compare 
in wild majesty and impressive sternness, with the series of 
scenes which here at every turn astonished our senses, and filled 
us with awe and delight." • 



SCENERY OF SNAKE RIVER. 291 



Indeed, from all that we can gather from the journal before 
as, and the accounts of other travellers, who passed through 
these regions in the memorable enterprise of Astoria, we are in- 
clined to think that Snake Eiver must be one of the most remarka- 
ble for varied and striking scenery of all th3 rivers of this conti- 
nent. From its head waters in the Rocky Mountains, to its 
junction with the Columbia, its windings are upwards of six hun- 
dred miles through every variety of landscape. Rising in a 
volcanic region, amidst extinguished craters, and mountains awful 
with the traces of ancient fires, it makes its way through great 
plains of lava and sandy deserts, penetrates vast sierras or moun- 
tainous chains, broken into romantic and often frightful precipices, 
and crowned with eternal snows ; and at other times, careers 
through green and smiling meadows, and wide landscapes of 
Italian grace and beauty. Wildness and sublimity, however, ap- 
pear to be its prevailing characteristics. 

Captain Bonneville and his companions had pursued their 
journey a considerable distance down the course of Snake River, 
when the old chief halted on the bank, and dismounting, recom- 
mended that they should turn their horses loose to graze, while 
he summoned a cousin of his from a group of lodges on the op- 
posite side of the stream. His summons was quickly answered. 
An Indian, of an active, elastic form, leaped into a light canoe of 
cotton-wood, and vigorously plying the paddle, soon shot across 
the river. Bounding on shore, he advanced with a buoyant air 
and frank demeanor, and gave his right hand to each of the party 
in turn. The old chief, whose hard name we forbear to repeat, 
now presented Captain Bonneville, in form, to his cousin, whose 
name, we regret to say, was no less hard, being nothing less than 
Hay-she-in-cow-cow. The latter evinced the usual curiosity to 



292 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



know all about the strangers, whence they came, whither they 
were going, the object of their journey, and the adventures they 
had experienced. All these, of course, were amply and eloquently 
set forth by the communicative old chief To all his grandilo- 
quent account of the bald-headed chief and his countrymen, the 
Big Hearts of the East, his cousin listened with great attention, 
and replied in the customary style of Indian welcome. He then 
desired the party to await his return, and, springing into his 
canoe, darted across the river. In a little while he returned, 
bringing a most welcome supply of tobacco, and a small stock of 
provisions for the road, declaring his intention of accompanying 
the party. Having no horse, he mounted behind one of the men, 
observing that he should procure a steed for himself on the fol- 
lowing day. 

They all now jogged on very sociably and cheerily together. 
Not many miles beyond, they met others of the tribe, among 
whom was one, whom Captain Bonneville and his comrades had 
known during their residence among the Upper Nez Perces, and 
who welcomed them with open arms. In this neighborhood was 
the home of their guide, who took leave of them with a profusion 
of good wishes for their safety and happiness. That night they 
put up in the hut of a Nez Perce, where they were visited by seve- 
ral warriors from the other side of the river, friends of the old 
chief and his cousin, who came to have a talk and a smoke with 
the white men. The heart of the good old chief was overflowing 
with good-will at thus being surrounded by his new and old 
friends, and he talked with more spirit and vivacity than ever. 
The evening passed away in perfect harmony and good-humor, 
and it was not until a late hour that the visitors took their leave 
and recrossed the river. 



THE SCAPEGOAT DOG. 293 



After this constant picture of worth and virtue on the part of 
the Nez Perce tribe, we grieve to have to record a circumstance 
calculated to throw a temporary shade upon the name. In the 
course of the social and harmonious evening just mentioned, one 
of the captain's men, who happened to be something of a virtuoso 
in his way, and fond of collecting curiosities, produced a small 
skin, a great rarity in the eyes of men conversant in peltries. It 
attracted ~much attention among the visitors from beyond the 
river, who passed it from one to the other, examined it with looks 
of lively admiration, and pronounced it a great medicine. 

In the morning, when the captain and his party were about to 
set off, the precious skin was missing. Search was made for it in 
the hut, but it was nowhere to be found ; and it was strongly sus- 
pected that it had been purloined by some of the connoisseurs 
from the other side of the river. 

The old chief and his cousin were indignant at the supposed 
delinquency of their friends across the water, and called out for 
them to come over and answer for their shameful conduct. The 
others answered to the call with all the promptitude of perfect 
innocence, and spurned at the idea of their being capable of such 
outrage upon any of the Big-hearted nation. All were at a loss 
on whom to fix the crime of abstracting the invaluable skin, when 
by chance the eyes of the worthies from beyond the water fell 
upon an unhappy cur, belonging to the owner of the hut. He 
was a gallows-looking dog, but not more so than most Indian 
dogs, who, take them in the mass, are little better than a genera- 
tion of vipers. Be that as it may, he was instantly accused of 
having devoured the skin in question. A dog accused is gene- 
rally a dog condemned ; and a dog condemned is generally a dog 
executed. So was it in the present instance. The unfortunate 



294 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



cur was arraigned ; his thievish looks substantiated his guilt, and 
he was condemned by his judges from across the river to be 
hanged. In vain the Indians of the hut. with whom he was a 
great favorite, interceded in his behalf. In vain Captain Bonne- 
ville and his comrades petitioned that his life might be spared. 
His judges were inexorable. He was doubly guilty: first, in 
having robbed their good friends, the Big Hearts of the East : 
secondly, in having brought a doubt on tlie honor of the Nez 
Perc6 tribe. He was, accordingly, swung aloft, and pelted with 
stones to make his death more certain. The sentence of the 
judges being thoroughly executed, a post mortem examination of 
the body of the dog was held, to establish his delinquency beyond 
all doubt, and to leave the Nez Perces without a shadow of sus- 
picion. Great interest, of course, was manifested by all present, 
during this operation. The body of the dog was opened, the in- 
testines rigorously scrutinized, but, to the horror of all concerned, 
not a particle of the skin was to be found — the dog had been un- 
justly executed ! 

A great clamor now ensued, but the most clamorous was the 
party from across the river, whose jealousy of their good name 
now prompted them to the most vociferous vindications of their 
innocence. It was with the utmost difficulty that the captain 
and his comrades could calm their lively sensibilities, by account- 
ing for the disappearance of the skin in a dozen different ways, 
until all idea of its having been stolen was entirely out of the 
question. 

The meeting now broke up. The warriors returned across 
the river, the captain and his comrades proceeded on their jour- 
ney ; but the spirits of the communicative old chief. Yo-mus-ro- 
y-e-cut, were for a time completely dampened, and he evinced 



O-PUSH-Y-E-CUT. 295 



great niortificatiou at what had just occurred. He rode ou in 
silence, except, that now and then he would give way to a burst 
of indignation, and exclaim, with a shake of the head and a toss 
of the hand toward the opposite shore — " bad men, very bad men 
across the river ;" to each of which brief exclamations, his worthy 
cousin, Hay-she-in-cow-cow, would respond by a deep guttural 
sound of acquiescence, equivalent to an amen. 

After Borne time, the countenance of the old chief again 
cleared up, and he fell into repeated conferences, in an under 
tone, with his cousin, which ended in the departure of the latter, 
who, applying the lash to his horse, dashed forward and was soon 
out of sight. In fact, they were drawing near to the village of 
another chief, likewise distinguished by an appellation of some 
longitude, 0-push-y-e-cut ; but commonly known as the great 
chief The cousin had been sent ahead to give notice of their 
approach ; a herald appeared as before, bearing a powder-horn, to 
enable them to respond to the intended salute. A scene ensued, 
on their approach to the village, similar to that which had oc- 
curred at the village of the little chief The whole population 
appeared in the field, drawn up in lines, arrayed with the cus- 
tomary regard to rank and dignity. Then came on the firing of 
salutes, and the shaking of hands, in which last ceremonial every 
individual, man, woman, and child, participated ; for the Indians 
have an idea that it is as indispensable an overture of friendship 
among the whites as smoking of the pipe is among the red men. 
The travellers were next ushered to the banquet, where all the 
choicest viands that the village could furnish, were served up in 
rich profusion. They were afterwards entertained by feats of 
agility and horseraces ; indeed, their visit to the village seemed 
the signal for complete festivity. In the meantime, a skin lodge 



296 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



had been spread for their accommodation, their horses and bag- 
gage were taken care of, and wood and water supplied in abun- 
dance. At night, therefore, they retired to their quarters, to 
enjoy, as they supposed, the repose of which they stood in need. 
No such thing, however, was in store for them. A crowd of 
visitors awaited their appearance, all eager for a smoke and a talk. 
The pipe was immediately lighted, and constantly replenished 
and kept alive until the night was far advanced. As usual, the 
utmost eagerness was evinced by the guests to learn every thing 
within the scope of their comprehension respecting the Ameri- 
cans, for whom they professed the most fraternal regard. The 
captain, in his replies, made use of familiar illustrations, calcu- 
lated to strike their minds, and impress them with such an idea 
of the might of his nation, as would induce them to treat with 
kindness and respect all stragglers that might fall in their path. 
To their inquiries as to the numbers of the people of the United 
States, he assured tliem that they were as countless as the blades 
of grass in the prairies, and that, great as Snake River was, if 
they were all encamped upon its banks, they would drink it dry 
in a single day. To these and similar statistics, they listened 
with profound attention, and apparently, implicit belief It was, 
indeed, a striking scene : the captain, with his hunter's dress and 
bald head in the midst, holding forth, and his wild auditors seated 
around like so many statues, the fire lighting up their painted 
faces and muscular figures, all fixed and motionless, excepting 
when the pipe was passed, a tpestion propounded, or a startling 
fact in statistics received with a movement of surprise and a half 
suppressed ejaculation of wonder and delight. 

The fame of the captain as a liealer of diseases, had accom- 
panied him to this village, and the great chief, 0-push-y-e-cut, 



THE CHIEF'S DAUGHTER. 297 



now entreated him to exert his skill on his daughter, who had 
been for three days racked with pains, for which the Picrced-nose 
doctors could devise no alleviation. The captain found her ex- 
tended on a pallet of mats in excruciating pain. Her father 
manifested the strongest paternal affection for her, and assured 
the captain that if he would but cure her, he would place 
the Americans near his heart. The worthy captain needed no 
such inducement. His kind heart was already touched by the 
sufferings of the poor girl, and his sympathies quickened by her 
appearance ; for she was but about sixteen years of age, and un- 
commonly beautiful in form and feature. The only dijB&culty 
with the captain was, that he knew nothing of her malady, and 
that his medical science was of the most haphazard kind. After 
considering and cogitating for some time, as a man is apt to do 
when in a maze of vague ideas, he made a desperate dash at a 
remedy. By his directions, the girl was placed in a sort of rude 
vapor bath, much used by the Nez Perces, where she was kept 
until near fainting. He then gave her a dose of gunpowder dis- 
solved in cold water, and ordered her to be wrapped in buffalo 
robes and put to sleep under a load of furs and blankets. The 
remedy succeeded : the next morning she was free from pain, 
though extremely languid ; whereupon, the captain prescribed for 
her a bowl of colt's head broth, and that she should be kept for 
a time on simple diet. 

The great chief was unbounded in his expressions of gratitude 
for the recovery of his daughter. He would fain have detained 
the captain a long time as his guest, but the time for departure 
had arrived. When the captain's horse was brought for him to 
mount, the chief declared that the steed was not worthy of him, 
and sent for one of his best horses, which he presented in its 

13* 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



stead ; declaring that it made his heart glad to see his friend so 
well mounted. He then appointed a young Nez Perce to accom- 
pany his guests to the next village, and " to carry his talk " con- 
cerning them ; and the two parties separated with mutual expres- 
sions of kindness and feelings of good-will. 

The vapor bath of which we have made mention is in frequent 
use among the Nez Perce tribe, chiefly for cleanliness. Their 
sweating-houses, as they call them, are small and close lodges, 
and the vapor is produced by water poured slowly upon red-hot 
stones. 

On passing the limits of 0-push-y-e-cut's domains, the travel- 
lers left the elevated table-lands, and all the wild and romantic 
scenery which has just been described. They now traversed a 
gently undulating country, of such fertility that it excited the 
rapturous admiration of two of the captain's followers, a Ken- 
tuckian and a native of Ohio. They declared that it surpassed 
any land that they had ever seen, and often exclaimed, what a 
delight it would be just to run a plough through such a rich and 
teeming soil, and see it open its bountiful promise before the share. 

Another halt and sojourn of a night was made at the vil- 
lage of a chief named He-mim-el-pilp, where similar ceremonies 
were observed and hospitality experienced, as at the preceding 
villages. They now pursued a west-southwest course through a 
beautiful and fertile region, better wooded than most of the tracts 
through which they had passed. In their progress, they met 
with several bands of Nez Perccs, by whom they were invariably 
treated with the utmost kindness. Within seven days after 
leaving the domain of He-mim-el-pilp, they struck the Columbia 
River at Fort Wallah- Wallah, where they arrived on the 4th of 
March, 1834. 



FORT WALLAH- WALLAH. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Fort Wallah- Wallah — its commander. — Indians in its neighborhood. — Exer- 
tions of Mr. Fambrune for their improvement. — Religion. — Code of laws. 
— Range of the Lower Nez Perces. — Camash, and other roots. — Nez Perc^ 
horses. — Preparations for departure. — Refusal of supplies. — Departure. — 
A laggard and glutton. 

Fort Wallah-Wallali is a trading post of the Hudson's Bay 
Company, situated just above the mouth of the river of the same 
name, and on the left bank of the Columbia. It is built of drift- 
wood, and calculated merely for defence against any attack of the 
natives. At the time of Captain Bonneville's arrival, the whole 
garrison mustered but six or eight men ; and the post was under 
the superintendence of Mr. Pambrune, an agent of the Hudson's 
Bay Company. 

The great post and fort of the company, forming the empo- 
rium of its trade on the Pacific, is Fort Vancouver ; situated on 
the right bank of the Columbia, about sixty miles from the sea, 
and just above the mouth of the Wallamut. To this point, the 
company removed its establishment from Astoria, in 1821, after 
its coalition with the Northwest Company. 

Captain Bonneville and his comrades experienced a polite 
reception from Mr. Pambrune, the superintendent : for, however 
hostile the members of the British Company may be to the en- 



300 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



terprises of American traders, they have always manifested great 
courtesy and hospitality to the traders themselves. 

Fort Wallah-Wallah is surrounded by the tribe of the same 
name, as well as by the Skynses, and the Nez Perces ; who bring 
to it the furs and peltries collected in their hunting expeditions. 
The Wallah-Wallahs are a degenerate, worn-out tribe. The Nez 
Perces are the most numerous and tractable of the three tribes 
just mentioned. Mr. Pambrune informed Captain Bonneville, 
that he had been at some pains to introduce the Christian reli- 
gion, in the Roman Catholic form, among them, where it had evi- 
dently taken root ; but had become altered and modified, to suit 
their peculiar habits of thought, and motives of action ; retain- 
ing, however, the principal points of faith, and its entire precepts 
of morality. The same gentleman had given them a code of laws, 
to which they conformed with scrupulous fidelity. Polygamy, 
which once prevailed among them to a great extent, was now 
rarely indulged. All the crimes denounced by the Christian 
faith, met with severe punishment among them. Even theft, so 
venial a crime among the Indians, had recently been punished 
with hanging, by sentence of a chief. 

There certainly appears to be a peculiar susceptibility of mo- 
ral and religious improvement among this tribe, and they would 
seem to be one of the very, very few, that have benefited in morals 
and manners, by an intercourse with white men. The parties 
which visited them about twenty years previously, in the expedi- 
tion fitted out by Mr. Astor, complained of their selfishness, 
their extortion, and their thievish propensities. The very reverse 
of those qualities prevailed among them during the prolonged 
sojourns of Captain Bonneville. 

The Lower Nez Perces range upon the Way-lee-way, Imma 



THE LOWER NEZ PERCES. 301 



hah, Yenghies, and other of the streams west of the mountains. 
They hunt the beaver, elk, deer, white bear, and mountain sheep. 
Beside the flesh of these animals, they use a number of roots for 
food ; some of which would be well worth transplanting and cul- 
tivating in the Atlantic States. Among these is the kamash, a 
sweet root, about the form and size of an onion, and said to be 
really delicious. The cowish, also, or biscuit root, about the size 
of a walnut, which they reduce to a very palatable flour ; together 
with the jackap, aisish, quako, and others ; which they cook by 
steaming them in the ground. 

In August and September, these Indians keep along the 
rivers, where they catch and dry great quantities of salmon ; 
which, while they last, are their principal food. In the winter, 
they congregate in villages formed of comfortable huts, or lodges, 
covered with mats. They are generally clad in deer skins, or 
woollens, and extremely well armed. Above all, they are cele- 
brated for owning great numbers of horses ; which they mark, 
and then suffer to range in droves in their most fertile plains. 
These horses are principally of the pony breed ; but remarkably 
stout and long-winded. They are brought in great numbers to 
the establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company, and sold for a 
mere trifle. 

Such is the account given by Captain Bonneville of the Nez 
Perccs ; who, if not viewed by him with too partial an eye, are 
certainly among the gentlest, and least barbarous people of these 
remote wildernesses. They invariably signified to him their 
earnest wish that an American post might be established among 
them ; and repeatedly declared that they would trade with 
Americans, in preference to any other people. 

Captain Bonneville had intended to remain some time in this 



302 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



neighborhood, to form an acquaintance with the natives, and to 
collect information, and establish connections that might be 
advantageous in the way of trade. The delays, however, which 
he had experienced on his journey, obliged him to shorten his 
sojourn, and to set oflf as soon as possible, so as to reach the ren- 
dezvous at the Portneuf at the appointed time. He had seen 
enough to convince him that an American trade might be carried 
on with advantage in this quarter ; and he determined soon to 
return with a stronger party, more completely fitted for the 
purpose. 

As he stood in need of some supplies for his journey, he 
applied to purchase them of Mr. Pambrune ; but soon found the 
difference between being treated as a guest, or as a rival trader. 
The worthy superintendent, who had extended to him all the 
genial rites of hospitality, now suddenly assumed a withered-up 
aspect and demeanor, and observed that, however he might feel 
disposed to serve him, personally, he felt bound by his duty to 
the Hudson's Bay Company, to do nothing which should facili- 
tate or encourage the visits of other traders among the Indians 
in that part of the country. He endeavored to dissuade Captain 
Bonneville from returning through the Blue Mountains ; assuring 
him it would be extremely difficult and dangerous, if not imprac- 
ticable, at this season of the year ; and advised him to accompany 
Mr. Payette, a leader of the Hudson's Bay Company, who was 
about to depart with a number of men, by a more circuitous, but 
safe route, to carry supplies to the company's agent, resident 
among the Upper Nez Perces. Captain Bonneville, however, 
piqued at his having refused to furnish him with supplies, and 
doubting the sincerity of his advice, determined to return by the 
more direct route through the mountains ; though varying his 



A SANCHO OF THE WILDERNESS. 303 



course, in some respects, from that by which he had come, in 
consequence of information gathered among the neighboring 
Indians. 

Accordingly, on the 6th of March, he and his three compan- 
ions, accompanied by their Nez Perce guides, set out on their 
return. In the early part of their course, they touched again at 
several of the Nez Perce villages, where they had experienced 
such kind treatment on their way down. They were always 
welcomed with cordiality ; and every thing was done to cheer 
them on their journey. 

On leaving the Way -lee-way village, they were joined by a 
Nez Perce, whose society was welcomed on account of the general 
gratitude and good-will they felt for his tribe. He soon proved 
a heavy clog upon the little party, being doltish and taciturn, 
lazy in the extreme, and a huge feeder. His only proof of intel- 
lect was in shrewdly avoiding all labor, and availing himself of 
the toil of others. When on the march, he always lagged behind 
the rest, leaving to them the task of breaking a way through all 
difficulties and impediments, and leisurely and lazily jogging 
along the track, which they had beaten through the snow. At 
the evening encampment, when others were busy gathering fuel, 
providing for the horses, and cooking the evening repast, this 
worthy Sancho of the wilderness would take his seat quietly and 
cosily by the fire, puffing away at his pipe, and eyeing in silence, 
but with wistful intensity of gaze, the savory morsels roasting for 
supper. 

When meal-time arrived, however, then came his season of 
activity. He no longer hung back, and waited for others to take 
the lead, but distinguished himself by a brilliancy of onset, and 
a sustained vigor and duration of attack, that completely shamed 



304 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



the efforts of his competitors — albeit, experienced trenchermen 
of no mean prowess. Never had they witnessed such power of 
mastication, and such marvellous capacity of stomach, as in this 
native and uncultivated gastronome. Having, by repeated and ' 
prolonged assaults, at length completely gorged himself, he ' 
would wrap himself up, and lie with tlfe torpor of an anaconda ; 
slowly digesting his way on to the next repast. 

The gormandizing powers of this worthy were, at first, matters 
of surprise and merriment to the travellers ; but they soon became 
too serious for a joke, threatening devastation to the fleshpots ; 
and he was regarded askance, at his meals, as a regular kill-crop, 
destined to waste the substance of the party. Nothing but a 
sense of the obligations they were under to his nation, induced 
them to bear with such a guest ; but he proceeded, speedily, to 
relieve them from the weight of these obligations, by eating a 
receipt in full. 



THE UNINVITED GUEST. 305 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

The uninvited guest. — Free and easy manners. — Salutary jokes. — A prodigal 
son. — Exit of the glutton. — A sudden change in fortune. — Danger of a 
visit to poor relations. — Plucking of a prosperous man. — A vagabond 
toilet — A substitute for the very fine horse. — Hard travelling. — The unin- 
vited guest and the patriarchal colt. — A beggar on horseback. — A catas- 
trophe. — Exit of the merry vagabond. 

As Captain Bonneville and his men were encamped one evening 
among the hills near Snake Kiver, seated before their fire, enjoy- 
ing a hearty supper, they were suddenly surprised by the visit of 
an uninvited guest. He was a ragged, half-naked Indian hunter, 
armed with bow and arrows, and had the carcass of a fine buck 
thrown across his shoulder. Advancing with an alert step, and 
free and easy air, he threw the buck on the ground, and, without 
waiting for an invitation, seated himself at their mess, helped 
himself without ceremony, and chatted to the right and left in 
the liveliest and most unembarrassed manner. No adroit and 
veteran dinner hunter of a metropolis could have acquitted him- 
self more knowingly. The travellers were at first completely 
taken by surprise, and could not but admire the facility with 
which this ragged cosmopolite made himself at home among 
them. While they stared he went on, making the most of the 
good cheer upon which he had so fortunately alighted ; and was 



306 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



soon elbow deep in " pot luck," and greased from the tip of his 
nose to the back of his ears. 

As the company recovered from their surprise, they began to 
feel annoyed at this intrusion. Their uninvited guest, unlike the 
generality of his tribe, was somewhat dirty as well as ragged, 
and they had no relish for such a messmate. Heaping up, there- 
fore, an abundant portion of the " provant" upon a piece of bark, 
which served for a dish, they invited him to confine himself 
thereto, instead of foraging in the general mess. 

He complied with the most accommodating spirit imaginable ; 
and went on eating and chatting, and laughing and smearing 
himself, until his whole countenance shone with grease and good- 
humor. In the course of his repast, his attention was caught by 
the figure of the gastronome, who, as usual, was gorging himself 
in dogged silence. A droll cut of the eye showed either that he 
knew him of old, or perceived at once his characteristics. He 
immediately made him the butt of his pleasantries ; and cracked 
ofi" two or three good hits, that caused the sluggish dolt to prick 
up his ears, and delighted all the company. From this time, 
the uninvited guest was taken into favor; his jokes began to 
be relished ; his careless, free and easy air, to be considered 
singularly amusing ; and in the end, he was pronounced by the 
travellers one of the merriest companions and most entertaining 
vagabonds they had met with in the wilderness. 

Supper being over, the redoubtable Shee-wee-she-ouaiter, 
for such was the simple name by which he announced himself, 
declared his intention of keeping company with the party for a 
day or two, if they had no objection ; and by way of backing 
his self-invitation, presented the carcass of the buck as an earnest 
of his hunting abilities. By this time, he had so completely 



HIS HUNTING TALENTS. 307 



effaced the unfavorable impression made by his first appearance, 
that he was made welcome to the camp, and the Nez Perce guide 
undertook to give him lodging for the night. The next morning, 
at break of day, he borrowed a gun, and was off among the hills, 
nor was any thing more seen of him until a few minutes after the 
party had encamped for the evening, when he again made his 
appearance, in his usual frank, careless manner, and threw down 
the carcass of another noble deer, which he had borne on his 
back for a considerable distance. 

This evening he was the life of the party, and his open com- 
municative disposition, free from all disguise, soon put them in 
possession of his history. He had been a kind of prodigal son 
in his native village ; living a loose, heedless life, and disregard- 
ing the precepts and imperative commands of the chiefs. He 
had, in consequence, been expelled from the village, but, in no- 
wise disheartened at this banishment, had betaken himself to the 
society of the border Indians, and had led a careless, haphazard, 
vagabond life, perfectly consonant to his humors ; heedless of the 
future, so long as he had wherewithal for the present ; and fear- 
ing no lack of food, so long as he had the implements of the 
chase, and a fair hunting ground. 

Finding him very expert as a hunter, and being pleased with 
his eccentricities, and his strange and merry humor. Captain 
Bonneville fitted him out handsomely as the Nimrod of the party, 
who all soon became quite attached to him. One of the earliest 
and most signal services he performed, was to exorcise the insatiate 
kill-crop, that had hitherto oppressed the party. In fact, the 
doltish Nez Perce, who had seemed so perfectly insensible to 
rough treatment of every kind, by which the travellers had en- 
deavored to elbow him out of their society, could not withstand 



308 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



the good-humored bantering, and occasionally sharp wit of She- 
wee-she. He evidently quailed under his jokes, and sat blinking j 
like an owl in daylight, when pestered by the flouts and peekings ' 
of mischievous birds. At length his place was found vacant at 
meal-time ; no one knew when he went oflF, or whither he had 
gone, but he was seen no more, and the vast surplus that remained 
when the repast was over, showed what a mighty gormandizer had 
departed. 

Relieved from this incubus, the little party now went on 
cheerily. She-wee-she kept them in fun as well as food. His 
hunting was always successful ; he was ever ready to render any 
assistance in the camp or on the march ; while his jokes, his an- 
tics, and the very cut of his countenance, so full of whim and 
comicality, kept every one in good-humor. 

In this way they journeyed on until they arrived on the banks 
of the Immahah, and encamped near to the Nez Perce lodges. 
Here She-wee-she took a sudden notion to visit his people, and 
show ofi" the state of worldly prosperity to which he had so sud- 
denly attained. He accordingly departed in the morning, arrayed 
in hunter's style, and well appointed with every thing befitting 
his vocation. The buoyancy of his gait, the elasticity of his step, 
and the hilarity of his countenance, showed that he anticipated, 
with chuckling satisfaction, the surprise he was about to give 
those who had ejected him from their society in rags. But what 
a change was there in his whole appearance when he rejoined the 
party in the evening ! He came skulking into camp like a beaten 
cur, with his tail between his legs. All his finery was gone ; he 
was naked as when he was born, with the exception of a scanty 
flap that answered the purpose of a fig leaf His fellow-travellers 
at first did not know him, but supposed it to be some vagrant 



A REVERSE OF FORTUNE. 309 



Root Digger sneaking into the camp ; but when they recognized 
in this forlorn object their prime wag, She-wee-she, whom they 
had seen depart in the morning in such high glee and high feather, 
they could not contain their merriment, but hailed him with loud 
and repeated peals of laughter. 

She-wee-she was not of a spirit to be easily cast down ; he 
soon joined in the merriment as heartily as any one, and seemed 
to consider -his reverse of fortune an excellent joke. Captain 
Bonneville, however, thought proper to check his good-humor, and 
demanded, with some degree of sternness, the cause of his altered 
condition. He replied in the most natural and self-complacent 
style imaginable, " that he had been among his cousins, who were 
very poor ; they had been delighted to see him ; still more de- 
lighted with his good fortune ; they had taken him to their arms ; 
admired his equipments ; one had begged for this ; another for 
that " — in fine, what with the poor devil's inherent heedlessness, 
and the real generosity of his disposition, his needy cousins had 
succeeded in stripping him of all his clothes and accoutrements, 
excepting the fig leaf with which he had returned to camp. 

Seeing his total want of care and forethought. Captain Bon- 
neville determined to let him suffer a little, in hopes it might 
prove a salutary lesson ; and, at any rate, to make him no more 
presents while in the neighborhood of his needy cousins. He was 
left, therefore, to shift for himself in his naked condition ; which, 
however, did not seem to give him any concern, or to abate one 
jot of his good-humor. In the course of his lounging about the 
camp, however, he got possession of a deer skin ; whereupon, cut- 
ting a slit in the middle, he thrust his head through it, so that 
the two ends hung down before and behind, something like a 
South American poncho, or the tabard of a herald. These ends 



310 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



he tied together, under the armpits ; and thus arrayed, presented 
himself once more before the captain, with an air of perfect self- 
satisfaction, as though he thought it impossible for any fault to 
be found with his toilet. 

A little further journeying brought the travellers to the petty 
village of Nez Perces, governed by the worthy and affectionate 
old patriarch who had made Captain Bonneville the costly present 
of the very fine horse. The old man welcomed them once more 
to his village with his usual cordiality, and his respectable squaw 
and hopeful son, cherishing grateful recollections of the hatchet 
and ear-bobs, joined in a chorus of friendly gratulation. 

As the much-vaunted steed, once the joy and pride of this in- 
teresting family, was now nearly knocked up by travelling, and 
totally inadequate to the mountain scramble that lay ahead. Cap- 
tain Bonneville restored him to the venerable patriarch, with re- 
newed acknowledgments for the invaluable gift. Somewhat to 
his surprise, he was immediately supplied with a fine two years' 
old colt in his stead, a substitution which, he afterwards learnt, 
according to Indian custom in such cases, he might have claimed 
as a matter of right. We do not find that any after claims were 
made on account of this colt. This donation may be regarded, 
therefore, as a signal punctilio of Indian honor ; but it will be 
found that the animal soon proved an unlucky acquisition to the 
party. 

While at this village, the Nez Perce guide had held consulta- 
tions with some of the inhabitants as to the mountain tract the 
party were about to traverse. He now began to wear an anxious 
aspect, and to indulge in gloomy forebodings. The snow, he had 
been told, lay to a great depth in the passes of the mountains, and 
difficulties would increase as he- proceeded. He begged Captain 



THE INDIAN DROLL. 311 



Bonneville, therefore, to travel very slowly, so as to keep the 
horses in strength and spirit for the hard times they would have 
to encounter. The captain surrendered the regulation of the 
march entirely to his discretion, and pushed on in the advance, 
amusing himself with hunting, so as generally to kill a deer or 
two in the course of the day, and arriving, before the rest of the 
party, at the spot designated by the guide for the evening's en- 
campment. ~ 

In the meantime, the others plodded on at the heels of the 
guide, accompanied by that merry vagabond, She-wee-she. The 
primitive garb worn by this droll, left all his nether man exposed 
to the biting blasts of the mountains. Still his wit was never 
frozen, nor his sunshiny temper beclouded ; and his innumerable 
antics and practical jokes, while they quickened the circulation of 
his own blood, kept his companions in high good-humor. 

So passed the first day after the departure from the patri- 
arch's. The second day commenced in the same manner ; the 
captain in the advance, the rest of the party following on slowly. 
She-wee-she, for the greater part of the time, trudged on foot 
over the snow, keeping himself warm by hard exercise, and all 
kinds of crazy capers. In the height of his foolery, the patriar- 
chal colt, which, unbroken to the saddle, was suffered to follow 
on at large, haj^pened to come within his reach. In a moment, 
he was on his back, snapping his fingers, and yelping with delight. 
The colt, unused to such a burden, and half wild by nature, fell 
to prancing and rearing and snorting and plunging and kicking ; 
and, at length, set off full speed over the most dangerous ground. 
As the route led generally along the steep and craggy sides of 
the hills, both horse and horseman were constantly in danger, 
and more than once had a hairbreadth escape from deadly peril. 



312 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



Nothing, however, could daunt this madcap savage. He stuck 
to the colt like a plaister, up ridges, down gullies ; whooping and 
yelling with the wildest glee. Xever did beggar on horseback 
display more headlong horsemanship. His companions followed 
him with their eyes, sometimes laughing, sometimes holding in 
their breath at his vagaries, until they saw the colt make a sud- 
den plunge or start, and pitch his unlucky rider headlong over a 
precipice. There was a general cry of horror, and all hastened 
to the spot. They found the poor fellow lying among the rocks 
below, sadly bruised and mangled. It was almost a miracle that 
he had escaped with life. Even in this condition, his merry 
spirit was not entirely quelled, and he summoned up a feeble 
laugh at the alarm and anxiety of those who came to his relief 
He was extricated from his rocky bed, and a messenger dis- 
patched to inform Captain Bonneville of the accident. The 
latter returned with all speed, and encamped the party at the 
first convenient spot. Here the wounded man was stretched 
upon buffalo skins, and the captain, who officiated on all occa- 
sions as doctor and surgeon to the party, proceeded to examine 
his wounds. The principal one was a long and deep gash in the 
thigh, which reached to the bone. Calling for a needle and 
thread, the captain now prepared to sew up the wound, admon- 
ishing the patient to submit to the operation with becoming 
fortitude. His gayety was at an end : he could no longer sum- 
mon up even a forced smile : and, at the first puncture of the 
needle, flinched so piteously, that the captain was obliged to 
pause, and to order him a powerful dose of alcohol. This some- 
what rallied up his spirit and warmed his heart : all the time of 
the operation, however, he kept his eyes riveted on the wound, 
^vith his teeth set. and a whimsical wincing of the countenance, 



DEPARTURE OF SHE-WEE-SHE. 313 



that occasionally gave his nose something of its usual comic 
curl. 

When the wound was fairly closed, the captain washed it with 
rum, and administered a second dose of the same to the patient, 
who was tucked in for the night, and advised to compose himself 
to sleep. He was restless and uneasy, however ; repeatedly 
expressing his fears that his leg would be so much swollen the 
next day, as to prevent his proceeding with the party ; nor could 
he be quieted, until the captain gave a decided opinion favorable 
to his wishes. 

Early the next morning, a gleam of his merry humor returned, 
on finding that his wounded limb retained its natural proportions. 
On attempting to use it, however, he found himself unable to 
stand. He made several efforts to coax himself into a belief that 
he might still continue forward ; but at length, shook his head 
despondingly, and said, that '^' as he had but one leg," it was all 
in vain to attempt a passage of the mountain. 

Every one grieved to part with so boon a companion, and 
under such disastrous circumstances. He was once more clothed 
and equipped, each one making him some parting present. He 
was then helped on a horse, which Captain Bonneville presented 
to him ; and after many parting expressions of good-will on both 
sides, set off on his return to his old haunts ; doubtless, to be 
once more plucked by his affectionate but needy cousins. 



314 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XXXYI. 

The difficult mountain. — A «iioke and C4onsultation. — The captain's speech. — 
An icy turnpike. — Danger of a false step. — Arrival on Snake River. — 
Return to Portneuf — Meeting of comrades. 

CoNTixi'iNG their journey up the course of the Immahah, the 
travellers found, as they approached the head waters, the snow 
increased in quantity, so as to lie two feet deep. They were 
again obliged, therefore, to beat down a path for their horses, 
sometimes travelling on the icy surfiice of the stream. At 
length they reached the place where they intended to scale the 
mountain ; and, having broken a pathway to the foot, were 
agreeably surprised to find that the wind had drifted the snow 
from off the side, so that they attained the summit with but little 
difficulty. Here they encamped, with the intention of beating a 
track through the mountains. A short experiment, however, 
obliged them to give up the attempt, the snow lying in vast 
drifts, often higher than the horses' heads. 

Captain Bonneville now took the two Indian guides, and set 
out to reconnoitre the neighborhood. Observing a high peak 
which overtopped the rest, he climbed it, and discovered from 
the summit a pass about nine miles long, but so heavily piled 
with snow, that it seemed impracticable. He now lit a pipe, and, 
sitting down with the two guides, proceeded to hold a consulta- 
tion after the Indian mode. For a long while they all smoked 



I 



A SMOKE AND A CONSULTATION. 315 



vigorously and in silence, pondering over the subject matter 
before them. At length a discussion commenced, and the opinion 
in which the two guides concurred, was, that the horses could not 
possibly cross the snows. They advised, therefore, that the party 
should proceed on foot, and they should take the horses back to 
the village, where they would be well taken care of until Captain 
Bonneville should send for them. They urged this advice with 
great earnestness ; declaring that their chief would be extremely 
angry, and treat them severely, should any of the horses of his 
good friends, the white men, be lost, in crossing under their 
guidance ; and that, therefore, it was good they should not 
attempt it. 

Captain Bonneville sat smoking his pipe, and listening to 
them with Indian silence and gravity. When they had finished, 
he replied to them in their own style of language. 

" My friends," said he, " I have seen the pass, and have lis- 
tened to your words ; you have little hearts. When troubles and 
dangers lie in your way, you turn your backs. That is not the 
way with my nation. When great obstacles present, and threaten 
to keep them back, their hearts swell, and they push forward. 
They love to conquer difl&culties. But enough for the present. 
Night is coming on ; let us return to our camp." 

He moved on, and they followed in silence. On reaching the 
camp, he found the men extremely discouraged. One of their 
number had been surveying the neighborhood, and seriously as- 
sured them, that the snow was at least a hundred feet deep. 
The captain cheered them up, and diffused fresh spirit in them 
by his example. Still he was much perplexed how to proceed. 
About dark there was a slight drizzling rain. An expedient now 
suggested itself This was to make two light sleds, place the 



316 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



packs on them, and drag them to the other side of the mountain, 
thus forming a road in the wet snow, which, should it afterwards 
freeze, would be sufficiently hard to bear the horses. This plan 
was promptly put into execution ; the sleds were constructed, the 
heavy baggage was drawn backward and forward until the road 
was beaten, when they desisted from their fatiguing labor. The 
night turned out clear and cold, and by morning, their road was 
incrusted with ice sufficiently strong for their purpose. They 
now set out on their icy turnpike, and got on well enough, ex- 
cepting that now and then a horse would sidle out of the track, 
and immediately sink up to the neck. Then came on toil and diffi- 
culty, and they would be obliged to haul up the floundering ani- 
mal with roj)es. One, more unliicky than the rest, after repeated 
falls, had to be abandoned in the snow. Notwithstanding these 
repeated delays, they succeeded, before the sun had acquired 
sufficient power to thaw the snow, in getting all the rest of their 
horses safely to the other side of the mountain. 

Their difficulties and dangers, however, were not yet at an 
end. They had now to descend, and the whole surface of the 
snow was glazed with ice. It was necessary, therefore, to wait 
until the warmth of the sun should melt the glassy crust of sleet, 
and give them a foothold in the yielding snow. They had a 
frightful warning of the danger of any movement while the sleet 
remained. A wild young mare, in her restlessness, strayed to 
the edge of a declivity. One slip was fatal to her ; she lost her 
balance, careered with headlong velocity down the slippery side 
of the mountain for more than two thousand feet, and was dashed 
to pieces at the bottom. When the travellers afterwards sought 
the carcass to cut it up for food, they found it torn and mangled 
in the most horrible manner. • 



SIGNS OF WHITE MEN. 317 



It was quite late in the evening before the party descended 
to the ultimate skirts of the snow. Here they planted large logs 
below them to prevent their sliding down, and encamped for the 
night. The next day they succeeded in bringing down their bag- 
gage to the encampment ; then packing all up regularly, and 
loading their horses, they once more set out briskly and cheer- 
fully, and in the course of the following day succeeded in getting 
to a grassy -.region. 

Here their Nez Perce guides declared that all the difficulties 
of the mountains were at an end, and their course was plain and 
simple, and needed no further guidance ; they asked leave, there- 
fore, to return home. This was readily granted, with many thanks 
and presents for their faithful services. They took a long fare- 
well smoke with their white friends, after which, they mounted 
their horses and set off, exchanging many farewells and kind 
wishes. 

On the following day, Captain Bonneville completed his jour- 
ney down the mountain, and encamped on the borders of Snake 
River, where he found the grass in great abundance and eight 
inches in height. In this neighborhood, he saw on the rocky 
banks of the river several prismoids of basaltes, rising to the 
height of fifty or sixty feet. 

Nothing particular^ worthy of note occurred during several 
days as the party proceeded up along Snake River and across its 
tributary streams. After crossing Grun Creek, they met with 
various signs that white people were in the neighborhood, and 
Captain Bonneville made earnest exertions to discover whether 
they were any of his own people, that he might join them. He 
soon ascertained that they had been starved out of this tract of 
country, and had betaken themselves to the buffalo region, whi- 



318 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



ther he now shaped his course. In proceeding along Snake River, 
he found small hordes of Shoshonies lingering upon the minor 
streams, and living upon trout and other fish, which they catch 
in great numbers at this season in fish-traps. The greater part 
of the tribe, however, had penetrated the mountains to hunt the 
elk, deer, and ahsahta or bighorn. 

On the 12th of May, Captain Bonneville reached the Port- 
neuf River, in the vicinity of which he had left the winter en- 
campment of his company on the preceding Christmas day. He 
had then expected to be back by the beginning of March, but 
circumstances had detained him upwards of two months beyond 
the time, and the winter encampment must long ere this have 
been broken up. Halting on the banks of the Portueuf. he dis- 
patched scouts a few miles above, to visit the old camping ground 
and search for signals of the party, or of their whereabouts, 
should they actually have abandoned the spot. They returned 
without being able to ascertain any thing. 

Being now destitute of provisions, the travellers found it 
necessary to make a short hunting excursion after bufiiilo. They 
made caches, therefore, in an island in the river, in which they 
deposited all their baggage, and then set out on their expedition. 
They were so fortunate as to kill a couple of fine bulls, and cut- 
ting up the carcasses, determined to husband this stock of provi- 
sions with the most miserly care, lest they should again be obliged 
to venture into the open and dangerous hunting grounds. Re- 
turning to their island on the 18th of May. they found that the 
wolves had been at the caches, scratched up the contents, and 
scattered them in every direction. They now constructed a more 
secure one. in which they deposited flieir heaviest articles, and 
then descended Snake River again, and encamped just above the 



REUNION OF PARTIES. 319 



American Falls. Here they proceeded to fortify themselves, in- 
tending to remain here, and give their horses an opportunity 
to recruit their strength with good pasturage, until it should be 
time to set out for the annual rendezvous in Bear River valley. 

On the 1st of June they descried four men on the other side 
of the river, opposite to the camp, and, having attracted their 
attention by a discharge of rifles, ascertained to their joy that 
they were some of their own people. From these men Captain 
Bonneville learnt that the whole party which he had left in 
the preceding month of December, were encamped on Blackfoot 
River, a tributary of Snake River, not very far above the Port- 
neuf Thither he proceeded with all possible dispatch, and in a 
little while had the pleasure of finding himself once more sur- 
rounded by his people, who greeted his return among them in 
the heartiest manner ; for his long-protracted absence had con- 
vinced them that he and his three companions had been cut off 
by some hostile tribe. 

The party had suffered much during his absence. They had 
been pinched by famine and almost starved, and had been forced 
to repair to the caches at Salmon River. Here they fell in with 
the Blackfeet bands, and considered themselves fortunate in 
being able to retreat from the dangerous neighborhood without 
sustaining any loss. 

Being thus reunited, a general treat from Captain Bonneville 
to his men was a matter of course. Two days, therefore, were 
given up to such feasting and merriment as their means and situ- 
ation afforded. What was wanting in good cheer was made up in 
good will ; the free trappers in particular, distinguished themselves 
on the occasion, and the saturnalia was enjo3'ed with a hearty 
holiday spirit, that smacked of the game flavor of the wilderness. 



320 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Departure for the rendezvous. — A war party of Blackfeet. — A mock bustle. — 
Sham fires at night. — Warlike precautions. — Dangers of a night attack. — 
A panic among horses. — Cautious march. — The Beer Springs. — A mock 
carousal. — Skirmishing with buffaloes. — A buffalo bait. — Arrival at the 
rendezvous. — Meeting of various bands- 

After the two da3^s of festive indulgence, Captain Bonneville 
broke up the encampment, and set out with his motley crew of 
hired and free trappers, half-breeds, Indians, and squaws, for the 
main rendezvous in Bear Biver valley. Directing his course up 
the Blackfoot Biver, he soon reached the hills among which it 
takes its rise. Here, while on the march, he descried from the 
brow of a hill, a war party of about sixty Blackfeet, on the plain 
immediately below him. His situation was perilous ; for the 
greater part of his people were dispersed in various directions. 
Still, to betray hesitation or fear, would be to discover his actual 
weakness, and to invite attack. He assumed, instantl}^ therefore, 
a belligerent tone ; ordered the squaws to lead the horses to a 
small grove of ashen trees, and unload and tie them ; and caused 
a great bustle to be made by his scanty handful ; the leaders 
riding hither and thither, and vociferating with all their might, 
as if a numerous force were getting under way for an attack. 
To keep up the deception as to his force, he ordered, at night, 



AN ALARMED CAMP. 321 



a number of extra fires to be made in his camp, and kept up a 
vigilant watch. His men were all directed to keep themselves 
prepared for instant action. In such cases the experienced trap- 
per sleeps in his clothes, with his rifle beside him, the shot-belt 
and powder-flask on the stock ; so that, in case of alarm, he can 
lay his hand upon the whole of his equipment at once, and start 
up, completely armed. 

Captain Bonneville was also especially careful to secure the 
horses, and set a vigilant guard upon them ; for there lies the 
great object and principal danger of a night attack. The grand 
move of the lurking savage is to cause a panic among the horses. 
In such cases one horse frightens another, until all are alarmed, 
and struggle to break loose. In camps where there are great 
numbers of Indians, with their horses, a night alarm of the kind 
is tremendous. The running of the horses that have broken 
loose ; the snorting, stamping, and rearing of those which remain 
fast ; the howling of dogs ; the yelling of Indians ; the scamper- 
ing of white men, and red men, with their guns ; the overturning 
of lodges, and trampling of flres by the horses ; the flashes of 
the fires, lighting up forms of men and steeds dashing through 
the gloom, altogether make up one of the wildest scenes of con- 
fusion imaginable. In this way, sometimes, all the horses of a 
camp, amounting to several hundred, will be frightened off in a 
single night. 

The night passed off without any disturbance ; but there was 
no likelihood that a war party of Blackfeet, once on the track of 
a camp where there was a chance for spoils, would fail to hover 
round it. The captain, therefore, continued to maintain the most 
vigilant precautions ; throwing out scouts in the advance, and on 
every rising ground. 

14* 



322 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



In the course of the day he arrived at the plain of white clay, 
already mentioned, surrounded by the mineral springs, called 
Beer Springs by the trappers.* Here the men all halted to have 
a regale. In a few moments every spring had its jovial knot of 
hard drinkers, with tin cup in hand, indulging in a mock carouse ; 
quaffing, pledging, toasting, bandying jokes, singing drinking 
songs, and uttering peals of laughter, until it seemed as if their 
imaginations had given potency to the beverage, and cheated 
them into a fit of intoxication. Indeed, in the excitement of the 
moment, they were loud and extravagant in their commendations 
of " the mountain tap ;" elevating it above every beverage pro- 
duced from hops or malt. It was a singular and fantastic scene ; 
suited to a region where every thing is strange and peculiar : — 
These groups of trappers, and hunters, and Indians, with their 
wild costumes, and wilder countenances ; their boisterous gayety, 
and reckless air ; quaffing, and making merry round these spark- 
ling fountains ; while beside them lay their weapons, ready to be 
snatched up for instant service. Painters are fond of represent- 
ing banditti at their rude and picturesque carousals ; but here 

* In a manuscript journal of Mr. Nathaniel G. Wyeth, we find the follow- 
ing mention of this watering-place : 

" There is here a soda spring ; or, I may say, filty of them. These springs 
throw out lime, which deposits and forms little hillocks of a yellowish-colored 
stone. There is, also, here, a warm spring, which throws out water, with a 
jet; which is like bilge-water in taste. There are, also, here, peat beds which 
sometimes take fire, and leave behind a deep, light ashes ; in wliich animals 
sink deep. * * * I ascended a mountain, and from it could see that Bear 
River took a short turn round Sheep Rock There were, in the plain, many 
hundred mounds of yellowish stone, with a crater on the top, formed of the 
deposits of the impregnated water." * 



r 



SKIRMISHING WITH BUFFALOES. 323. 



were groups, still more rude and picturesque ; and it needed but 
a sudden onset of Blackfeet, and a quick transition from a fan- 
tastic revel to a furious melee, to have rendered this picture of a 
trapper's life complete. 

The beer frolic, however, passed off without any untoward 
circumstance ; and, unlike most drinking bouts, left neither head- 
ache nor heartache behind. Captain Bonneville now directed his 
course up along Bear Biver ; amusing himself, occasionally, with 
hunting the buffalo, with which the country was covered. Some- 
times, when he saw a huge bull taking his repose in a prairie, he 
would steal along a ravine, until close upon him ; then rouse him 
from his meditations with a pebble, and take a shot at him as he 
started up. Such is the quickness with which this animal springs 
upon his legs, that it is not easy to discover the muscular process 
by which it is effected. The horse rises first upon his fore legs ; 
and the domestic cow, upon her hinder limbs ; but the buffalo 
bounds at once from a couchant to an erect position, with a cele- 
rity that baffles the eye. Though from his bulk, and rolling gait, 
he does not appear to run with much swiftness ; yet, it takes a 
stanch horse to overtake him, when at full speed on level ground ; 
and a buffalo cow is still fleeter in her motion. 

Among the Indians and half-breeds of the party, were several 
admirable horsemen and bold hunters ; who amused themselves 
with a grotesque kind of buffalo bait. Whenever they found a 
huge bull in the plains, they prepared for their teasing and barba- 
rous sport. Surrounding him on horseback, they would discharge 
their arrows at him in quick succession, goading him to make au 
attack; which, with a dexterous movement of the horse, they 
would easily avoid. In this way, they hovered round him, 
feathering him with arrows, as he reared and plunged about, un- 



394 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



til he was bristled all over like a porcupine. When they per- 
ceived in him signs of exhaustion, and he could no longer be pro- 
voked to make battle, they would dismount from their horses, 
approach him in the rear, and seizing him by the tail, jerk him 
from side to side, and drag him backwards ; until the frantic ani- 
mal, gathering fresh strength from fury, would break from them, 
and rush, with flashing eyes and a hoarse bellowing, upon any 
enemy in sight : but in a little while, his transient excitement at 
an end, would pitch headlong on the ground, and expire. The ar- 
rows were then plucked forth, the tongue cut out and preserved 
as a dainty, and the carcass left a banquet for the wolves. 

Pursuing his course up Bear River, Captain Bonneville ar- 
rived, on the 13th of June, at the Little Snake Lake; where he 
encamped for four or five days, that he might examine its shores 
and outlets. The latter, he found extremely muddy, and so sur- 
rounded by swamps and quagmires, that he was obliged to con- 
struct canoes of rushes, with which to explore them. The mouths 
of all the streams which fall into this lake from the west, are 
marshy and inconsiderable ; but on the east side, there is a beau- 
tiful beach, broken, occasionally, by high and isolated blufls, 
which advance upon the lake, and heighten the character of the 
scenery. The water is very shallow, but abounds with trout, and 
other small fish. 

Having finished his survey of the lake. Captain Bonneville 
proceeded on his journey, until on the banks of the Bear River, 
some distance higher up, he came upon the party which he had 
detached a year before, to circumambulate the Great Salt Lake, 
and ascertain its extent, and the nature of its shores. They had 
been encamped here about twenty days ; and were greatly rejoiced 
at meeting: once more with their comrades, from whom thev had 



REJOINS ANOTHER PARTY. 325 



SO long been separated. The first inquiry of Captain Bonneville, 
was about the result of their journey, and the information they 
had procured as to the Great Salt Lake ; the object of his intense 
curiosity and ambition. The substance of their report will be 
found in the following chapter 



3SM BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XXXYIII. 

Plan of the Salt Lake expedition. — Great sandy deserts. — Suflerings trom thirst. 
— Ogden's River. — Trails and smoke ot" lurkinir stivages. — Thet'ts at night. 
— A trapper's revenge. — Alarms ot" a guilty oonsoienoe — A nuirderous 
victory. — Calitornian momitains. — Plains along the Paoitic. — Arrival at 
^Monterey — aeoount ot" the place and neighborhood. — Lower California — 
its extent. — The peninsula — soil — climate — production — Its settlement by 
the Jesuits — their sway over the Indians — their expulsion. — Ruins ot' a 
Missionary establishment. — Sublime scenery. — Upper Calitornia. — Mis- 
sions — their power and policy. — Resources of the country. — Designs of 
foreign nations. 

It was on the •24th of July, in the preceding year (1833), that 
the brigade of forty men set out from Green River valley, to 
explore the Great Salt Lake. They were to make the complete 
circuit of it, trapping on all the streams which should fall in 
their way, and to keep journals and make charts, calculated to 
impart a knowledge of the lake and the surrounding country. 
All the resources of Captain Bonneville had been tasked to tit 
out this favorite expedition. The country lying to the southwest 
of the mountains, and ranging down to California, was as yet al- 
most unknown ; being out of the buflalo range, it was untraversed 
by the trapper, who preferred those parts of the wilderness where 
the roaming herds of that species of animal gave him compa- 



A PARCHED DESERT. ' 327 



ratively an abundant and luxurious life. Still it was said the 
deer, the elk, and the bighorn wore to be found there, so that, 
with a little diligence and economy, tliere was no danger of lack- 
ing food. As a precaution, however, the party halted on J^ear 
Kivcr and liunted for a few days, until they had laid in a supply 
of dried buffalo meat and venison ; they then passed by the head 
waters of the Cassie lliver, and soon found themselves launched 
on an immense sandy desert. Southwardly, on their left, they 
belield the Great Salt Lake, spread out like a sea, but they found 
no stream running into it. A desert extended around them, and 
stretched to the southwest, as far as the eye could reach, rivalling 
the deserts of Asia and Africa in sterility. There was neither 
tree, nor herbage, nor spring, nor pool, nor running stream, 
nothing but parched wastes of sand, where horse and rider were 
in danger of perishing. 

Their sufferings, at length, became so great that they aban- 
doned their intended course, and made towards a range of snowy 
mountains, brightening in the north, where they hoped to find 
water. After a time, they came upon a small stream leading 
directly towards these mountains. Having quenched their burn- 
ing thirst, and refreshed themselves and their weary horses for a 
time, they kept along this stream, which gradually increased in 
size, being fed by numerous brooks. After approaching the 
mountains, it took a sweep towards the southwest, and the 
travellers still kept along it, trapping beaver as they went, on 
tlie flesh of which they subsisted for the present, husbanding 
their dried meat for future necessities. 

The stream on which they had thus fallen is called by some, 
Mary River, but is more generally known as Ogden's Kiver, from 
Mr. Peter Ogden, an enterprising and intrepid leader of the 



388 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



Hudson's Bay Company, who first explored it. The wild and 
half-desert region through which the travellers were passing, is 
wandered over by hordes of Shoshokoes, or Root Diggers, the 
forlorn branch of the Snake tribe. They are a shy people, prone 
to keep aloof from the stranger. The travellers frequently met 
with their trails, and saw the smoke of their fires rising in vari- 
ous parts of the vast landscape, so that they knew there were 
great numbers in the neighborhood, but scarcely ever were any 
of them to be met with. 

After a time, they began to have vexatious proofs that, if the 
Shoshokoes were quiet by day, they were busy at night. The 
camp was dogged by these eavesdroppers ; scarce a morning, but 
various articles were missing, yet nothing could be seen of the 
marauders. What particularly exasperated the hunters, was to 
have their traps stolen from the streams. One morning, a trap- 
per of a violent and savage character, discovering that his traps 
had been carried oflf in the night, took a horrid oath to kill the 
first Indian he should meet, innocent or guilty. As he was 
returning with his comrades to camp, he beheld two unfortunate 
Diggers, seated on the river bank, fishing. Advancing upon 
them, he levelled his rifle, shot one upon the spot, and flung his 
bleeding body into the stream. The other Indian fled, and was 
suffered to escape. Such is the indifi'erence with which acts ot 
violence are regarded in the wilderness, and such the immunity 
an armed ruffian enjoys beyond the barriers of the laws, that the 
only punishment this desperado met with, was a rebuke from the 
leader of the party. 

The trappers now left the scene of this infamous tragedy, and 
kept on westward, down the course of the river, which wound 
along with a range of mountains on the right hand, and a sandy, 



A MASSACRE. 329 



but somewhat fertile plain, on the left. As they proceeded, they 
beheld columns of smoke rising, as before, in various directions, 
which their guilty consciences now converted into alarm signals, 
to arouse the country and collect the scattered bands for ven- 
geance. 

After a time, the natives began to make their appearance, 
and sometimes in considerable numbers, but alwaj^s pacific ; the 
trappers, however, suspected them of deep-laid plans to draw 
them into ambuscades ; to crowd into and get possession of their 
camp, and various other crafty and daring conspiracies, which, it 
is probable, never entered into the heads of the poor savages. 
In fact, they are a simple, timid, inoflfensive race, unpractised in 
warfare, and scarce provided with any weapons, excepting for the 
chase. Their lives are passed in the great sand plains and along 
the adjacent rivers ; they subsist sometimes on fish, at other 
times on roots and the seeds of a plant, called the cat's-tail. 
They are of the same kind of people that Captain Bonneville 
found upon Snake River, and whom he found so mild and 
inoflensive. 

The trappers, however, had persuaded themselves that they 
were making their way through a hostile country, and that 
implacable foes hung round their camp or beset their path, 
watching for an opportunity to surprise them. At length, one 
day they came to the banks of a stream emptying into Ogden's 
River, which they were obliged to ford. Here a great number 
of Shoshokoes were posted on the opposite bank. Persuaded 
they were there with hostile intent, they advanced upon them, 
levelled their rifles, and killed twenty-five of them upon the spot. 
The rest fled to a short distance, then halted and turned about, 
howling and whining like wolves, and uttering the most piteous 



330 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

wailings. The trappers chased them in every direction ; the 
poor wretches made no defence, but fled with terror : neither 
does it appear from the accounts of the boasted victors, that a 
weapon had been wielded or a weapon launched by the Indians 
throughout the affair. We feel perfectly convinced that the 
poor savages had no hostile intention, but had merely gathered 
together through motives of curiosity, as others of their tribe had 
done when Captain Bonneville and his companions passed along 
Snake Kiver. 

The trappers continued down Ogdens River, until they 
ascertained that it lost itself in a great swampy lake, to which 
there was no apparent discharge. They then struck directly 
westward, across the great chain of Californian mountains inter- 
vening between these interior plains and the shores of the Pacific. 

For three and twenty days they were entangled among these 
mountains, the peaks and ridges of which are in many places 
covered with perpetual snow. Their passes and defiles present 
the wildest scenery, partaking of the sublime rather than the 
beautiful, and abounding with frightful precipices. The suffer- 
ings of the travellers among these savage mountains were ex- 
treme : for a part of the time they were nearly starved ; at length, 
they made their way through them, and came down upon the 
plains of New California, a fertile region extending along the 
coast, with magnificent forests, verdant savannas, and prairies 
that look like stately parks. Here they found deer and other 
game in abundance, and indemnified themselves for past famine. 
They now turned towards the south, and passing numerous small 
bands of natives, posted upon various streams, arrived at the 
Spanish village and post of Monterey. 

This is a small place, containing about two hundred houses. 



PENINSULA OF CALIFORNIA. 331 



situated in latitude 37° north. It has a capacious bay, with, in- 
different anchorage. The surrounding country is extremely fer- 
tile, especially in the valleys ; the soil is richer, the further you 
penetrate into the interior, and the climate is described as a 
perpetual spring. Indeed, all California, extending along the 
Pacific Ocean from latitude 19° 30^ to 42° north, is represented 
as one of the most fertile and beautiful regions in North 
America. 

Lower California, in length about seven hundred miles, forms 
a great peninsula, which crosses the tropics and terminates in the 
torrid zone. It is separated from tlie mainland by the Gulf of 
California, sometimes called the Vermilion Sea ; into this gulf 
empties the Colorado of the West, the Seeds-ke-dee, or Green 
Hiver, as it is also sometimes called. The peninsula is traversed 
by stern and barren mountains, and has many sandy plains, 
where the only signs of vegetation is the cylindrical cactus grow- 
ing among the clefts of the rocks. Wherever there is water, 
however, and vegetable mould, the ardent nature of the climate 
quickens every thing into astonishing fertility. There are val- 
leys luxuriant with the rich and beautiful productions of the 
tropics. There the sugar-cane and indigo plant attain a perfec- 
tion unequalled in any other part of North America. There 
flourish the olive, the fig, the date, the orange, the citron, the 
pomegranate, and other fruits belonging to the voluptuous cli- 
mates of the south ; with grapes in abundance, that yield a 
generous wine. In the interior are salt plains ; silver mines and 
scanty veins of gold are said, likewise, to exist ; and pearls of a 
beautiful water are to be fished upon the coast. 

The peninsula of California was settled in 1698, by the Je- 
suits, who, certainly, as far as the natives were concerned, have 



332 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



generally proved the most beneficent of colonists. In the pre- 
sent instance, they gained and maintained a footing in the coun- 
try without the aid of military force, but solely by religious 
influence. They formed a treaty, and entered into the most 
amicable relations with the natives, then numbering from twenty- 
five to thirty thousand souls, and gained a hold upon their affec- 
tions, and a control over their minds, that effected a complete 
change in their condition. They built eleven missionary estab- 
lishments in the various valleys of the peninsula, which formed 
rallying places for the surrounding savages, where they gathered 
together as sheep into the fold, and surrendered themselves and 
their consciences into the hands of these spiritual pastors. No- 
thing, we are told, could exceed the implicit and affectionate 
devotion of the Indian converts to the Jesuit fathers, and the 
Catholic faith was disseminated widely through the wilder- 
ness. 

The growing power and influence of the Jesuits in the New 
World, at length excited the jealousy of the Spanish government, 
and they were banished from the colonies. The governor, who 
arrived at California to expel them, and to take charge of the 
country, expected to find a rich and powerful fraternity, with im- 
mense treasures hoarded in their missions, and an army of Indians 
ready to defend them. On the contrary, he beheld a few vener- 
able silver-haired priests coming humbly forward to meet him, 
followed by a throng of weeping, but submissive natives. The 
heart of the governor, it is said, was so touched by this unex- 
pected sight, that he shed tears ; but he had to execute his orders. 
The Jesuits were accompanied to the place of their embarkation 
by their simi3le and afiectionate parishioners, who took leave of 
them with tears and sobs. Many of the latter abandoned their 



UPPER CALIFORNIA. 333 



hereditary abodes, and wandered ojff to join their southern breth- 
ren, so that but a remnant remained in the peninsula. The 
Franciscans immediately succeeded the Jesuits, and subsequently 
the Dominicans ; but the latter managed their affairs ill. But 
two of the missionary establishments are at present occupied by 
priests ; the rest are all in ruins, excepting one, which remains a 
monument of the former power and prosperity of the order. 
This is a noble edifice, once the seat of the chief of the resident 
Jesuits. It is situated in a beautiful valley, about half way be- 
tween the Grulf of California and the broad ocean, the peninsula 
being here about sixty miles wide. The edifice is of hewn stone, 
one story high, two hundred and ten feet in front, and about 
fifty-five feet deep. The walls are six feet thick, and sixteen 
feet high, with a vaulted roof of stone, about two feet and a half 
in thickness. It is now abandoned and desolate ; the beautiful 
valley is without an inhabitant — not a human being resides within 
thirty miles of the place ! 

In approaching this deserted mission-house from the south, 
the traveller passes over the mountain of San Juan, supposed to 
be the highest peak in the Californias. From this lofty eminence, 
a vast and magnificent prospect unfolds itself ; the great Gulf of 
California, with the dark blue sea beyond, studded with islands ; 
and in another direction, the immense lava plain of San Grabriel. 
The splendor of the climate gives an Italian effect to the immense 
prospect. The sky is of a deep blue color, and the sunsets are 
often magnificent beyond description. Such is a slight and im- 
perfect sketch of this remarkable peninsula. 

Upper California extends from latitude 31° 10'' to 42° on the 
Pacific, and inland, to the great chain of snow-capped mountains 
which divide it from the sand plains of the interior. There are 



334 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



about twenty-one missions in this province, most of which were 
established about fifty years since, and are generally under the 
care of the Franciscans. These exert a protecting sway over 
about thirty-five thousand Indian converts, who reside on the 
lands around the mission houses. Each of these houses has 
fifteen miles square of land allotted to it, subdivided into small 
lots, proportioned to the number of Indian converts attached to 
the mission. Some are inclosed with high walls ; but in general 
they are open hamlets, composed of rows of huts, built of sun- 
burnt bricks ; in some instances whitewashed and roofed .with 
tiles. Many of them are far in the interior, beyond the reach of 
all military protection, and dependent entirely on the good will 
of the natives, which never fiiils them. They have made consid- 
erable progress in teaching the Indians the useful arts. There 
are native tanners, shoemakers, weavers, blacksmiths, stonecut- 
ters, and other artificers attached to each establishment. Others 
are taught husbandry, and the rearing of cattle and horses ; while 
the females card and spin wool, weave, and perform the other du- 
ties allotted to their sex in civilized life. No social intercourse 
is allowed between the unmarried of the opposite sexes after 
working hours ; and at night they are locked up in separate apart- 
ments, and the keys delivered to the priests. 

The produce of the lands, and all the profits arising from 
sales, are entirely at the disposal of the priests : whatever is not 
required for the support of the missions, goes to augment a fund 
which is under their control. Hides and tallow constitute the 
principal riches of the missions, and, indeed, the main commerce 
of the countr}'. Grain might be produced to an unlimited extent 
at the establishments, were there a sufficient market for it. Olives 
and grapes are also reared at the missions. 



PRODUCE, CATTLE, PORTS. 335 



Horses and horned cattle abound throughout all this region ; 
the former may be purchased at from three to five dollars, but 
they are of an inferior breed. Mules, which are here of a 
large size and of valuable qualities, cost from seven to ten 
dollars. 

There are several excellent ports along this coast. San Diego, 
San Barbara, Monterey, the bay of San Francisco, and the 
northern port of Bon dago ; all afford anchorage for ships of the 
largest class. The port of San Francisco is too well known to 
require much notice in this place. The entrance from the sea is 
six^-seven fathoms deep, and within, whole navies might ride 
with perfect safety. Two large rivers, which take their rise in 
mountains two or three hundred miles to the east, and run 
through a country unsurpassed for soil and climate, empty them- 
selves into the harbor. The country around affords admirable 
timber for ship-building. In a word, this favored port combines 
advantages which not only fit it for a grand naval depot, but 
almost render it capable of being made the dominant military 
post of these seas. 

Such is a feeble outline of the Californian coast and country, 
the value of which is more and more attracting the attention of 
naval powers. The Russians have always a ship of war upon 
this station, and have already encroached upon the Californian 
boundaries, by taking possession of the port of Bondage, and 
fortifying it with several guns. Becent surveys have likewise 
been made, both by the Bussians and the English ; and we have 
little doubt, that at no very distant day, this neglected, and, until 
recently, almost unknown region, will be found to possess sources 
of wealth sufficient to sustain a powerful and prosperous empire. 
Its inhabitants, themselves, are but little aware of its real riches ; 



336 BONNE^^LLE'S ADVENTURES. 



they have not enterprise sufficient to acquaint themselves with a 
vast interior that lies almost a terra incognita ; nor have they the 
skill and industry to cultivate properly the fertile tracts along 
the coast : nor to prosecute that foreign commerce which brings 
1 I the resources of a country into profitable action. 



MEXICAN HORSEMEN. 337 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Gay lite at Monterey. — [Mexican horsemen. — A bold dragoon. — Use of the 
laso. — Vaqueros. — Noosing a bear. — Fight between a bull and a bear. — 
Departure from INIonterey. — Indian horse-stealers. — Outrages committed by 
the travellers. — Indignation of Captain Bonneville. 

The wandering band of trappers were well received at Monterey : 
the inhabitants were desirous of retaining them among them, and 
oflfered extravagant wages to such as were acquainted with any 
mechanic art. When they went into the country, too. they were 
kindly treated by the priests at the missions ; who are always 
hospitable to strangers, whatever may be their rank or religion. 
They had no lack of provisions ; being permitted to kill as many 
as they pleased of the vast herds of cattle that graze the country, 
on condition, merely, of rendering the hides to the owners. They 
attended bull-fights and horseraces ; forgot all the purposes of 
their expedition : squandered away, freely, the property that did 
not belong to them : and. in a word, revelled in a perfect fool's 
paradise. 

What especially delighted them, was the equestrian skill of 
the Californians. The vast number and the cheapness of the 
horses in this country, makes every one a cavalier. The Mexi- 
cans and half-breeds of California, spend the greater part of their 
time in the saddle. They are fearless riders ; and their daring 

15 



338 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



feats upon unbroken colts and wild horses, astonished our trap- 
pers ; thoiigh accustomed to the bold riders of the prairies. 

A Mexican horseman has much resemblance, in many points, 
to the equestrians of Old Spain; and especially to the vain- 
glorious Caballero of Andalusia. A Mexican dragoon, for in- 
stance, is represented as arrayed in a round blue jacket, with red 
cuffs and collar ; blue velvet breeches, unbuttoned at the knees 
to show his white stockings ; bottinas of deer skin ; a round- 
crowned Andalusian hat, and his hair cued. On the pommel 
of his saddle, he carries balanced a long musket, with fox skin 
round the lock. lie is cased in a cuirass of double-fold deer 
skin, and carries a bull's hide shield ; he is forked in a Moorish 
saddle, high before and behind ; his feet are thrust into wooden 
box stirrups, of Moorish fashion, and a tremendous pair of iron 
spurs, fastened by chains, jingle at his heels. Thus equipped, 
and suitably mounted, he considers himself the glory of Califor- 
nia, and the terror of the universe. 

The Californian horsemen seldom ride out without the laso ; 
that is to say, a long coil of cord, with a slip noose ; with which 
they are expert, almost to a miracle. The laso, now almost en- 
tirely confined to Spanish America, is said to be of great anti- 
quity ; and to have come, originally, from the East. It was used, 
we are told, by a pastoral people of Persian descent ; of whom 
eight thousand accompanied the army of Xerxes. By the Span- 
ish Americans, it is used for a variety of purposes ; and among 
others, for hauling wood. Without dismounting, they cast the 
noose round a log, and thus drag it to their houses. The vaque- 
ros, or Indian cattle drivers, have also learnt the use of the laso 
from the Spaniards ; and employ it to catch the half-wild cattle, 
by throwing it round their horns. 



THE LASO.— A BULL AND BEAR FIGHT. 339 



The laso is also of great use in furnishing the public with a 
favorite, though barbarous sport ; the combat between a bear and 
a wild bull. For this purpose, three or four horsemen sally forth 
to some wood, frequented by bears, and, depositing the carcass of 
a bullock, hide themselves in the vicinity. The bears are soon 
attracted lDy the bait. As soon as one, fit for their purpose, makes 
his appearance, they run out, and with the laso, dexterously noose 
him by either leg. After dragging him at full speed until he is 
fatigued, they secure him more effectually ; and tying him on the 
carcass of the bullock, draw him in triumph to the scene of action. 
By this time, he is exasperated to such frenzy, that they are 
sometimes obliged to throw cold water on him, to moderate his 
fury ; and dangerous would it be, for horse and rider, were he, 
while in this paroxysm, to break his bonds. 

A will bull, of the fiercest kind, which has been caught and 
exasperated in the same manner, is now produced ; and both 
animals are turned loose in the arena of a small amphitheatre. 
The mortal fight begins instantly ; and always, at first, to the 
disadvantage of Bruin ; fatigued, as he is, by his previous rough 
riding. Roused, at length, by the repeated goring of the bull, he 
seizes his muzzle with his sharp claws, and clinging to this most 
sensitive part, causes him to bellow with rage and agony. In his 
heat and fury, the bull lolls out his tongue ; this is instantly 
clutched by the bear ; with a desperate effort he overturns his 
huge antagonist ; and then dispatches him without difficulty. 

Beside this diversion, the travellers were likewise regaled 
with bull-fights, in the genuine style of Old Spain ; the Califor- 
nians being considered the best bull-fighters in the Mexican 
dominions. 

After a considerable sojourn at Monterey, spent in these very 



340 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



edifying, but not very profitable amusements, the leader of this 
vagabonl party set out with his comrades, on his return journey. 
Instead of retracing their steps through the mountains, they 
passed round their southern extremity, and, crossing a range of 
low hills, found themselves in the sandy plains south of Ogden's 
River ; in traversing which, they again suffered, grievously, for 
want of water. 

In the course of their journey, they encountered a party of 
Mexicans in pursuit of a gang of natives, who had been stealing 
horses. The savages of this part of California are represented 
as extremely poor, and armed only with stone-pointed arrows ; it 
being the wise policy of the Spaniards not to furnish them with 
firearms. As they find it difficult, with their blunt shafts, to kill 
the wild game of the mountains, they occasionally supply them- 
selves with food, by entrapping the Spanish horses. Driving 
them stealthily into -fastnesses and ravines, they slaughter them 
without difficulty, and dry their flesh for provisions. Some the}- 
carry off, to trade with distant tribes ; and in this way, the 
Spanish horses pass from hand to hand among the Indians, until 
they even find their way across the Rocky Mountains. 

The Mexicans are continually on the alert, to intercept these 
marauders ; but the Indians are apt to outwit them, and force 
them to make long and wild expeditions in pursuit of their stolen 
horses. 

Two of the Mexican party just mentioned, joined the band of 
trappers, and proved themselves worthy companions. In the 
course of their journey through the country frequented by the 
poor Root Diggers, there seems to have been an emulation be- 
tween them, which could inflict the greatest outrages upon the 
natives. The trappers still considered them in the light of dan- 



FAILURE OF THE EXPEDITION. 341 



gerous foes ; and the Mexicans, very probably, charged them with 
the sin of horse-stealing ; we have no other mode of accounting 
for the infamous barbarities of which, according to their own 
story, they were guilty ; hunting the poor Indians like wild 
beasts, and killing them without mercy. The Mexicans excelled 
at this savage sport ; chasing their unfortunate victims at full 
speed ; noosing them round the neck with their lasos, and then 
dragging them to death ! 

Such are the scanty details of this most disgraceful expedi- 
tion ; at least, such are all that Captain Bonneville had the 
patience to collect ; for he was so deeply grieved by the failure 
of his plans, and so indignant at the atrocities related to him, 
that he turned, with disgust and horror, from the narrators. 
Had he exerted a little of the Lynch law of the wilderness, and 
hanged those dexterous horsemen in their own lasos, it would but 
have been a well-merited and salutary act of retributive justice. 
The failure of this expedition was a blow to his pride, and a still 
greater blow to his purse. The Great Salt Lake still remained 
unexplored : at the same time, the means which had been fur- 
nished so liberally to fit out this favorite expedition, had all been 
squandered at Monterey ; and the peltries, also, which had been 
collected on the way. He would have but scanty returns, there- 
fore, to make this year, to his associates in the United States ; 
and there was great danger of their becoming disheartened, 
and abandoning the enterprise. 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XL. 

Travellers' -tales. — Indian lurkers. — Prognostics of Buckeye. — Signs and por- 
tents. — The medicine wolf. — An alarm. — An ambush. — The captured 
provant. — Triumph of Buckeye. — Arrival of supplies. — Grand carouse. — 
Arrangements for the year. — Mr. Wyeth and his new-levied band. 

The horror and indignation felt by Captain Bonneville at the 
excesses of the Californian adventurers, were not participated by 
his men : on the contrary, the events of that expedition were 
favorite themes in the camp. The heroes of Monterey bore the 
palm in all the gossipings among the hunters. Their glowing 
descriptions of Spanish bear-baits and bull-fights especially, were 
listened to with intense delight ; and had another expedition to 
California been proposed, the difficulty would have been, to 
restrain a general eagerness to volunteer. 

The captain had not been long at the rendezvous when he 
perceived, by various signs, that Indians were lurking in the 
neighborhood. It was evident that the Blackfoot band, which he 
had seen when on his march, had dogged his party, and were 
intent on mischief He endeavored to keep his camp on the 
alert ; but it is as difficult to maintain discipline among trappers 
at a rendezvous, as among sailors when in port. 

Buckeye, the Delaware Indian, was scandalized at this heed- 
lessness of the hunters when an enemy was at hand, and was 



SIGNS AND PORTENTS. 343 



coiitinually preaching up caution. He was a little proue to play 
the prophet, and to deal in signs and portents, which occasionally 
excited the merriment of his white comrades. He was a great 
dreamer, and believed in charms and talismans, or medicines, and 
could foretell the approach of strangers by the howling or barking 
of the small prairie wolf. This animal, being driven by the 
larger wolves from the carcasses left on the hunting grounds by 
the hunters, follows the trail of the fresh meat carried to the 
camp. Here the smell of the roast and broiled, mingling with 
every breeze, keeps them hovering about the neighborhood : 
scenting every blast, turning up their noses like hungry hounds, 
and testifying their pinching hunger by long whining howls, and 
impatient barkings. These are interpreted by the superstitious 
Indians into warnings that strangers are at hand ; and one 
accidental coincidence, like the chance fulfilment of an almanac 
prediction, is sufficient to cover a thousand failures. This little, 
whining, feast-smelling animal is, therefore, called among Indians 
the "medicine wolf;" and such was one of Buckeye's infallible 
oracles. 

One morning early, the soothsaying Delaware appeared with 
a gloomy countenance. His mind was full of dismal presenti- 
ments, whether from mysterious dreams, or the intimations of 
the medicine wolf, does not appear. " Danger," he said, " was 
lurking in their path, and there would be some fighting before 
sunset." He was bantered for his prophecy, which was attributed 
to his having supped too heartily, and been visited by bad dreams. 
In the course of the morning, a party of hunters set out in pur- 
suit of bufialo, taking with them a mule, to bring home the meat 
they should procure. They had been some few hours absent, 
when they came clattering at full speed into camp, giving the 



344 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



war cry of Blackfeet ! Blackfeet ! Every one seized his weapon, 
and ran to learn the cause of the alarm. It appeared that the 
hunters, as they were returning leisurely, leading their mule, 
well laden with prime pieces of buffalo meat, passed close by a 
small stream overhung with trees, about two miles from the camp. 
Suddenly, a party of Blackfeet, who lay in ambush among the 
thickets, sprang up with a fearful yell, and discharged a volley 
at the hunters. The latter immediately threw themselves flat on 
their horses, put them to their speed, and never paused to look 
behind, until they found themselves in camp. Fortunately, 
they had escaped without a wound ; but the mule, with all the 
" provant," had fallen into the hands of the enemy. This was a 
loss, as well as an insult, not to be borne. Every man sprang to 
horse, and with rifle in hand, galloped off" to punish the Blackfeet, 
and rescue the buffalo beef They came too late ; the marauders 
were off, and all that they found of their mule were the dents of 
his hoofs, as he had been conveyed off at a round trot, bearing 
his savory cargo to the hills, to furnish the scampering savages 
with a banquet of roast meat at the expense of the white men. 

The party returned to camp, balked of their revenge, but 
still more grievously balked of their supper. Buckeye, the 
Delaware, sat smoking by his tire, perfectly composed. As the 
hunters related the particulars of the attack, he listened in 
silence, with unruffled countenance, then pointing to the west, 
" The sun has not yet set," said he ; " Buckeye did not dream 
like a fool!" 

All present now recollected the prediction of the Indian at 
daybreak, .-md were struck with what appeared to be its fulfil- 
ment. They called to mind, also, a long catalogue of foregone 
presentiments and predictions made at various times by the 



ARRIVAL OF SUPPLIES. 345 



Delaware, and, in their superstitious credulity, began to consider 
him a veritable seer ; without thinking how natural it was to 
predict danger, and how likely to have the prediction verified in 
the present instance, when various signs gave evidence of a 
lurking foe. 

The various bands of Captain Bonneville's company had now 
been assembled for some time at the rendezvous ; they had had 
their fill of feasting, and frolicking, and all the species of wild 
and often uncouth merry-making, which invariably take place on 
these occasions. Their horses, as well as themselves, had re- 
covered from past famine and fatigue, and were again fit for 
active service ; and an impatience began to manifest itself 
among the men once more to take the field, and set off on some 
wandering expedition. 

At this juncture, Mr. Cerre arrived at the rendezvous at the 
head of a supply party, bringing goods and equipments from the 
States. This active leader, it will be recollected, had embarked 
the year previously in skin-boats on the Bighorn, freighted with 
the year's collection of peltries. He had met with misfortunes 
in the course of his voyage : one of his frail barks being upset, 
and part of the furs lost or damaged. 

The arrival of the supplies gave the regular finish to the 
annual revel. A grand outbreak of wild debauch ensued among 
the mountaineers ; drinking, dancing, swaggering, gambling, 
quarrelling, and fighting. Alcohol, which, from its portable 
qualities, containing the greatest quantity of fiery spirit in the 
smallest compass, is the only liquor carried across the mountains, 
is the inflammatory beverage at these carousals, and is dealt out 
to the trappers at four dollars a pint. When inflamed by this 
fiery beverage, they cut all kinds of mad pranks and gambols, 

15* 



346 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



and sometimes burn all their clothes in their drunken bravadoes^ 
A camp, recovering from one of these riotous revels, presents a 
serio-comic spectacle ; black eyes, broken heads, lacklustre vis- 
ages. Many of the trappers have stpandered in one drunken 
frolic the hard-earned wages of a year ; some have run in debt, 
and must toil on to pay for past pleasure. All are sated with 
this deep draught of pleasure, and eager to commence another 
trapping campaign ; for hardship and hard work, spiced with the 
stimulants of wild adventure, and topped off with an annual 
frantic carousal, is the lot of the restless trapper. 

The captain now made his arrangements for the current year. 
Cerre and Walker, with a number of men who had been to Cali- 
fornia, were to proceed to St. Louis with the packages of furs 
collected during the past year. Another party, headed by a 
leader named Montero, was to proceed to the Crow country, trap 
upon its various streams, and among the Black Hills, and thence 
to proceed to the Arkansas, where he was to go into winter 
quarters. 

The captain marked out for himself a widely different course. 
He intended to make another expedition, with twenty-three men, 
to the lower part of the Columbia Eiver, and to proceed to the 
valley of the Multnomah ; after wintering in those parts, and 
establishing a trade with those tribes, among whom he had so- 
journed on his first visit, he would return in the spring, cross 
the Rocky Mountains, and join Montero and his party in the 
month of July, at the rendezvous of the Arkansas ; where he 
expected to receive his annual supplies from the States. 

If the reader will east his eye upon a map. he may form an 
idea of the contempt for distance which a man acquires in this 
vast wilderness, by noticing the extent of country comprised in 



EXPEDITION OF WYETH. 347 



these projected wanderings. ' Just as the diftercnt parties were 
about to set out on the 3d of July, on their opposite routes 
Captain Bonneville received intelligence that Wyeth, the inde- 
fatigable leader of the salmon-fishing enterprise, who had parted 
with him about a year previously on the banks of the Bighorn, 
to descend that wild river in a bull boat, was near at hand, with 
a new levied band of hunters and trappers, and was on his way 
once more to the banks of the Columbia. 

As we take much interest in the novel enterprise of this 
'• eastern man," and are pleased with his pushing and persevering 
spirit ; and as his movements are characteristic of life in the wil- 
derness, we will, with the reader's permission, while Captain Bon- 
neville is breaking up his camp and saddling his horses, step back 
a year in time, and a few hundred miles in distance, to the bank 
of the Bighorn, and launch ourselves with Wyeth in his bull 
boat ; and though his adventurous voyage will take us many 
hundreds of miles further down wild and wandering rivers ; yet 
such is the magic power of the^en, that we promise to bring the 
reader safe back to Bear RiYer valley, by the time the last horse 
is saddled. 



348 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

A VOYAGE IN A BULL BOAT. 

It was about the middle of August (1830) that Mr. Nathaniel J. 
"Wyeth, as the reader may recollect, launched his bull boat at the 
foot of the rapids of the Bighorn, and departed in advance of the 
parties of Campbell and Captain Bonneville. His boat was made 
of three buffalo skins, stretched on a light frame, stitched together, 
and the seams payed with elk tallow and ashes. It was eighteen 
feet long, and about five feet six inches wide, sharp at each end, 
with a round bottom, and drew about a foot and a half of water ; 
a depth too great for these upper rivers, which abound with shal- 
lows and sand-bars. The crew consisted of two half-breeds, who 
claimed to be white men. though a mixture of the French Creole 
and the Shawnee and Potawattomie. They claimed, moreover, 
to be thorough mountaineers, and first-rate hunters — the common 
boast of these vagabonds cf the wilderness. Besides these, there 
was a Xez Perce lad of eighteen years of age. a kind of servant 
of all work, whose great aim, like all Indian servants, was to do 
as little work as possible ; there was, moreover, a half-breed boy, 
of thirteen, named Baptiste. son of a Hudson's Bay trader by a 
Flathead beauty ; who was travelling with Wyeth to see the 
world and complete his education. Add to these. Mr. Milton 



THE BOAT AND ITS CREW. 34& 



Sublette, who went as passenger, and we have the crew of the 
little bull boat complete. 

It certainly was a slight armament with which to run the 
gauntlet through countries swarming with hostile hordes, and a 
slight bark to navigate these endless rivers, tossing and pitching 
down rapids, running on snags and bumping on sand-bars ; such, 
however, are the cockle-shells with which these hardy rovers of 
the wilderness will attempt the wildest streams ; and it is sur- 
prising what rough shocks and thumps these boats will endure, 
and what vicissitudes they will live through. Their duration, 
however, is but limited ; they require frequently to be hauled out 
of the water and dried, to prevent the hides from becoming wa- 
ter-soaked ; and they eventually rot and go to pieces. 

The course of the river was a little to the north of east ; it 
ran about five miles an hour, over a gravelly bottom. The banks 
were generally alluvial, and thickly grown with cotton-wood trees, 
intermingled occasionally with ash and plum trees. Now and 
then limestone cliffs and promontories advanced upon the river, 
making picturesque headlands. Beyond the woody borders rose 
ranges of naked hills. 

Milton Sublette was the Pelorus of this adventurous bark ; 
being somewhat experienced in this wild kind of navigation. It 
required all his attention and skill, however, to pilot her clear of 
sand-bars and snags, or sunken trees. There was often, too, a 
perplexity of choice, where the river branched into various chan- 
nels, among clusters of islands ; and occasionally the voyagers 
found themselves aground and had to turn back. 

It was necessary, also, to keep a wary eye upon the land, for 
they were passing through the heart of the Crow country, and 
were continually in reach of any ambush that might be lurking 



350 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



on shore. The most formidable foes that they saw, however, 
were three grizzly bears, quietly promeuadiug along the bank, 
who seemed to gaze at them with surprise as they glided b}^ 
Herds of buffalo, also, were moving about, or lying on the ground, 
like cattle in a pasture : excepting such inhabitants as these, a 
perfect solitude reigned over the land. There was no sign of 
human habitation ; for the Crows, as we have already shown, are 
a wandering people, a race of hunters and warriors, who live in 
tents and on horseback, and are continually on the move. 

At night they landed, hauled up their boat to dry, pitched 
their tent, and made a rousing fire. Then, as it was the first 
evening of their voyage, they indulged in a regale, relishing 
their buffalo beef with inspiring alcohol : after which, they sleprt 
soundly, without dreaming of Crows or Blackfeet. Early in the 
morning, they again launched their boat and committed them- 
selves to the stream. 

In tl>is way, they voyaged for two days without any material 
occurrence, excepting a severe thunder storm, which compelled 
them to put to shore, and wait until it was past. On the third 
morning, they descried some persons at a distance on the river 
bank. As they were now, by calculation, at no great distance 
from Fort Cass, a trading post of the American Fur Company, 
they supposed these might be some of its people. A nearer 
approach showed them to be Indians. Descrying a woman apart 
from the rest, they landed and accosted her. She informed them 
that the main force of the Crow nation, consisting of five bands, 
under their several chiefs, were but about two or three miles 
below, on their way up along the river. This was unpleasant 
tidings, but to retreat was impossible, and the river afforded no 
hiding place. They continued forward, therefore, trusting that, 



A CROW CAVALCADE. 351 



as Fort Cass was so near at hand, the Crows might refrain from 
any depredations. 

Floating down about two miles further, they came in sight of 
the first band, scattered along the river bank, all well mounted ; 
some armed with guns, others with bows and arrows, and a few 
with lances. They made a wildly picturesque appearance, man- 
aging their horses with their accustomed dexterity and grace. 
Nothing can be more spirited than a band of Crow cavaliers. 
They are a fine race of men, averaging six feet in height, lithe 
and active, with hawks' eyes and Roman noses. The latter fea- 
ture is common to the Indians on the east side of the Rocky 
Mountains ; those on the western side have generally straight or 
flat noses. 

Wyeth would fiiin have slipped by this cavalcade unnoticed ; 
but the river, at this place, was not more than ninetj^ yards 
across : he was perceived, therefore, and hailed by the vagabond 
warriors, and, we presume, in no very choice language : for, 
among their other accomplishments, the Crows are famed for 
possessing a Billingsgate vocabulary of unrivalled opulence, and 
for being by no means sparing of it whenever an occasion ofi"ers. 
Indeed, though Indians are generally very lofty, rhetorical, and 
figurative in their language at all great talks, and high ceremo- 
nials, yet, if trappers and traders may be believed, they are the 
most unsavory vagabonds in their ordinary colloquies ; they 
make no hesitation to call a spade a spade : and when they once 
undertake to call hard names, the famous pot and kettle, of vitu- 
perating memory, are not to be compared with them for scurrility 
of epithet. 

To escape the infliction of any compliments of the kind, or 
the launching, peradventure, of more dangerous missiles, Wyeth 



352 BOXNEVILLES ADVENTURES. 



landed with the best grace in his power, and approached the chief 
of the band. It was Arapooish. the quondam friend of Rose the 
outhiw. and one whom we have already mentioned as being anx- 
ious to promote a friendly intercourse between his tribe and the 
white men He was a tall, stout man, of good presence, and 
received the voyagers very graciously. His people, too. thronged 
around them, and were officiously attentive after the Crow fash- 
ion. One took a great fancy to Baptiste. the Flathead boy, and 
a still greater fancy to a ring on his finger, which he transposed 
to his own with surprising dexterity, and then disappeared with 
a quick step among the crowd. 

Another was no less pleased with the Xez Perce lad. and 
nothing would do but he must exchange knives with him : draw- 
ing a new knife out of the Xez Perce's scabbard, and putting an 
old one in its place. Another stepped up and replaced this old 
knife with one still older, and a third helped himself to knife, 
scabbard, and all. It was with much difficulty that Wyeth and 
his companions extricated themselves from the clutches of these 
officious Crows, before they were entirely plucked. 

Falling down the river a little further, they came in sight of 
the second band, and sheered to the opposite side, with the inten- 
tion of passing them. The Crows were not to be evaded. Some 
pointed their guns at the boat, and threatened to fire : others 
stripped, plunged into the stream, and came swimming across, 
flaking a virtue of necessity. Wyeth threw a cord to the first 
that came within reach, as if he wished to be drawn to the 
shore. 

In this way he was overhauled by every band, and by the 
time he and his people came out of the busy hands of the last, 
they were eased of most of their superfluities. Nothing, in all 



TRICKS OF TRADERS. 353 



probability, but the proximity of the American trading post, kept 
these land pirates from making a good prize of the bull boat and 
all its contents. 

These bands were in full march, equipped for war, and evident- 
ly full of mischief. They were, in fact, the very bands that over- 
run the land in the autumn of 1833 ; partly robbed Fitzpatrick of 
his horses and eflfects ; hunted and harassed Captain Bonneville 
and his people ; broke up their trapping campaigns, and, in a 
word, drove them all but of the Crow country. It has been 
suspected that they were set on to these pranks by some of the 
American Fur Company, anxious to defeat the plans of their 
rivals of the Rocky Mountain Company ; for at this time, their 
competition was at its height, and the trade of the Crow country 
was a great object of rivalry. What makes this the more proba- 
ble, is. that the Crows in their depredations seemed by no means 
blood-thirsty, but intent chiefly on robbing the parties of their 
traps and horses, thereby disabling them from prosecuting their 
hunting. 

We should observe that this year, the Rocky Mountain Com- 
pany were pushing their way up the rivers, and establishing rival 
posts near those of the American Company ; and that, at the 
very time of which we are speaking, Captain Sublette was as- 
cending the Yellowstone with a keel boat, laden with supplies ; 
so that there was every prospect of this eager rivalship being 
carried to extremities. 

The last band of Crow warriors had scarce disappeared in 
the cloud of dust they had raised, when our voyagers arrived at 
the mouth of the river, and glided into the current of the Yel- 
lowstone. Turning down this stream, they made for Fort Cass, 
which is situated on the right bank, about three miles below the 



354 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



Bighorn. Or. the opposite side, they beheki a party of thirty- 
one savages, which they soon ascertained to be Bhickfeet. The 
width of the river enabled them to keep at a sufficient distance, 
and they soon knded at Fort Cass. This was a mere fortification 
against Indians ; being a stockade of about one hundred and 
thirty feet square, with two bastions at the extreme corners. 
M'TuHoch, an agent of the American Company, was stationed 
there with twenty men : two boats of fifteen tons burden, were 
lying here : but at certain seasons of the year a steamboat can 
come up to the fort. 

They had scarcely arrived, when the Blackfeet warriors made 
their appearance on the opposite bank, displaying two American 
flags in token of amity. They plunged into the river, swam 
across, and were kindly received at the fort. They were some 
of the very men who had been engaged, the year previously, in 
the battle at Pierre's Hole, and a fierce-looking set of fellows 
they were : tall and hawk-nosed, and very much resembling the 
Crows. They professed to be on an amicable errand, to make 
peace with the Crows, and set off in all haste, before night, to 
overtake them. Wyeth predicted that they would lose their 
scalps, for he had heard the Crows denounce vengeance on them, 
for having murdered two of their warriors who had ventured 
among them on the faith of a treaty of peace. It is probable, 
however, that this pacific errand was all a pretence, and that the 
real object of the Blackfeet braves was to hang about the skirts 
of the Crow bands, steal their horses, and take the scalps of 
stragglers. 

At Fort Cass, 3Ir. Wyeth disposed of some packages of bea- 
ver, and a quantity oi' buffalo robes On the following morning 
(August ISth). he once more launched his buli boat, and proceeded 



PRAGMATICAL HUNTERS. 355 

down the Yellowstone, which inclined in an east-northeast direc- 
tion. The river had alluvial bottoms, fringed with great quanti- 
ties of the sweet cotton-wood, and interrupted occasionally by 
'• bluffs " of sandstone. The current occasionally brings down 
fragments of granite and porphyry. 

In the course of the day, they saw something moving on the 
bank among the trees, which they mistook for game of some kind ; 
and, being in want of provisions, pulled towards shore. They 
discovered, just in time, a party of Blackfeet, lurking in the 
thickets, and sheered, with all speed, to the opposite side of the 
river. 

After a time, they came in sight of a gang of elk. Wyeth 
was immediately for pursuing them, rifle in hand, but saw evident 
signs of dissatisfaction in his half-breed hunters ; who considered 
him as trenching upon their province, and meddling with things 
quite above his capacity ; for these veterans of the wilderness 
are exceedingly pragmatical on points of venery and woodcraft, 
and tenacious of their superiority ; looking down with infinite 
contempt upon all raw beginners. The two worthies, therefore, 
sallied forth themselves, but after a time, returned empty-handed. 
They laid the blame, however, entirely on their guns ; two mi- 
serable old pieces with flint locks, which, with all their picking 
and hammering, were continually apt to miss fire. These great 
boasters of the wilderness, however, are very often exceeding bad 
shots, and fortunate it is for them when they have old flint guns 
to bear the blame. 

The next day they passed where a great herd of buffalo were 
bellowing on a prairie. Again the Castor and Pollux of the wil- 
derness sallied forth, and again their flint guns were at fault, and 
missed fire, and nothing went ofl" but the buflxilo. Wyeth now 



356 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



found there was danger of losing his dinner if he depended upon 
his hunters : he took rifle iu hand, therefore, and went forth him- 
self. In the course of an hour, he returned laden with Inifl'alo 
meat, to the great mortification of the two regular hunters, who 
were annoyed at being eclipsed bv a greenhorn. 

All hands now set to work to prepare the mid-day repast. A 
fire was made under an immense cotton-wood tree, that oversha- 
dowed a beautiful piece of meadow land : rich morsels of buftalo 
hump were soon roasting before it : in a hearty and prolonged 
repast, the two unsuccessful hunters gradually recovered from 
their mortification : threatened to discard their old flint guns as 
soon as they should reach the settlements, and boasted more than 
ever of the wonderful shots they had made, when they had guns 
that never missed tire. 

Having hauled up their boat to dry in the sun. previous to 
making their repast, the voyagers now set it once more afloat, 
and proceeded on their way. They had constructed a sail out of 
their old tent, which they hoisted whenever the wind was tavor- 
able. and tlius skimmed along down the stream. Their voyage 
was pleasant, notwithstanding the perils by sea and land, with 
which they were environed. Whenever they could, they en- 
camped on islands, for the greater security. If on the mainland, 
and in a dangerous neighborhood, they would shift their camp 
after dark, leaving their fire burning, dropping down the river to 
some distance, and making no fire at their second encampment. 
Sometimes they would float all night with the current : one keep- 
ing watch and steering while the rest slept : in such case, they 
would haul their boat on shore, at noon of the following day. to 
dry; for notwithstanding every precaution, she was gradually 
getting water-soaked and rotten. 



BALD EAGLES.— THE YELLOWSTONE. 357 



There was something pleasingly solemn and mysterious in 
thus floating down these wihl rivers at night. The purity of the 
atmosphere in these elevated regions, gave additional splendor to 
the stars, and heightened the magnificence of the firmament. 
The occasional rush and laving of the waters ; the vague sounds 
from the surrounding wilderness ; the dreary howl, or rather 
whine, of wolves from the plains ; the low grunting and bellow- 
ing of the buffalo, and the shrill neighing of the elk, struck the 
ear with an eft'ect unknown in the daytime. • 

The two knowing hunters had scarcely recovered from one 
mortification, when they were fiited to experience another. As 
the boat was gliding swiftly round a low promontory, thinly 
covered with trees, one of them gave the alarm of Indians, The 
boat was instantly shoved from shore, and every one caught up 
his rifle. " Where are they ?" cried Wyeth. 

" There — there ! riding on horseback !" cried one of the 
hunters. 

"Yes ; with white scarfs on !" cried the other. 

Wyeth looked in the direction they pointed, but descried no- 
thing but two bald eagles, perched on a low dry branch, beyond 
the thickets, and seeming, from the rapid motion of the boat, to 
be moving swiftly in an opposite direction. The detection of this 
blunder in the two veterans, who prided themselves on the sure- 
ness and quickness of their sight, produced a hearty laugh at 
their expense, and put an end to their vauntings. 

The Yellowstone, above the confluence of tlie Bighorn, is a 
clear stream ; its waters were now gradually growing turbid, and 
assuming the yellow clay color of the Missouri. Tlie current 
was about four miles an hour, with occasional rapids ; some of 
them dangerous, but the voyagers passed them all without acci- 



358 BONNEVILLE S ADVENTURES. 



dent. The banks of the river were in many places precipitous, 
with strata of bituminous coal. 

They now entered a region abounding with buffalo — that ever- 
journeying animal, which moves in countless droves from point to 
point of the vast wilderness ; traversing plains, pouring through 
the intricate defiles of mountains, swimming rivers, ever on the 
move ; guided on its boundless migrations by some traditionary 
knowledge, like the finny tribes of the ocean, which, at certain 
seasons, find their -mysterious paths across the deep, and revisit 
the remotest shores. 

These great migratory herds of buifalo have their hereditary 
paths and highways, worn deep through the country, and making' 
for the surest passes of the mountains, and the most practicable 
fords of the rivers. When once a great column is in full career, 
it goes straight forward, regardless of all obstacles ; those in 
front being impelled by the moving mass behind. At such times, 
they will break through a camp, trampling down every thing in 
their course. 

It was the lot of the voyagers, one night, to encamp at one 
of these buffalo landing places, and exactly on the trail. They 
had not been long asleep, when they were awakened by a great 
bellowing, and tramping, and the rush, and splash, and snorting of 
animals in the river. They had just time to ascertain that a 
buffalo army was entering the river on the opposite side, and 
making towards the landing place. With all haste they moved 
their boat and shifted their camp, by which time the head of 
the column had reached the shore, and came pressing up the 
bank. 

It was a singular spectacle, by the uncertain moonlight, to 
behold this countless throng making their way across the river. 



A NOOSKD BUFFALO. 359 



blowing, and bellowing, and splashing. Sometimes they pass in 
such dense and continuous column as to form a temporary dam 
across the river ; the waters of which rise and rush over their 
backs, or between their sipadrons. The roaring and rushing 
sound of one of these vast herds crossing a river, may sometimes, 
in a still night, be heard for miles. 

The voyagers now had game in profusion. They could kill 
as many b^uffalo as they pleased, and, occasionally, were wanton 
in their havoc ; especially among scattered herds, that came swim- 
ming near the boat. On one occasion, an old buffalo bull ap- 
proached so near, that the half-breeds must fain try to noose him, 
as they would a wild horse. The noose was successfully thrown 
around his head, and secured him by the horns, and the}^ now 
promised themselves ample sport. The buffalo made a prodigious 
turmoil in the water, bellowing, and blowing, and floundering ; 
and they all floated down the stream together. At length he 
found foothold on a sand-bar, and taking to his heels, whirled the 
boat after him, like a whale when harpooned ; so that the hunt- 
ers were obliged to cast off their rope, with which strange head- 
gear the venerable bull made off to the prairies. 

On the 24tli of August, the bull boat emerged, with its adven- 
turous crew, into the broad bosom of the mighty Missouri. Here, 
about six miles above the mouth of the Yellowstone, the voya- 
gers landed at Fort Union, the distributing post of the American 
Fur Company in the western country. It was a stockaded for- 
tress, about two hundred and twenty feet square, pleasantly 
situated on a high bank. Here they were hospitably entertained 
by Mr. M'Kenzie, the superintendent, and remained with him 
three days, enjoying the unusual luxuries of bread, butter, milk, 
and cheese, for the fort was well supplied with domestic cattle. 



360 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



though it had no gardeu. The atmosphere of these elevated re- 
gions is said to be too dry for the culture of vegetables ; yet the 
voyagers, in coming down the Yellowstone, had met with plums, 
grapes, cherries, and currants, and had observed ash and elm 
trees. Where these grow, the climate cannot be incompatible 
with gardening. 

At Fort Union, Wyeth met with a melancholy memento of 
one of his men. This was a powder-flask, which a clerk had 
purchased from a Blackfoot warrior. It bore the initials of poor 
More, the unfortunate youth murdered the year previously, at 
Jackson's Hole, by the Blackfeet, and whose bones had been sub- 
sequently found by Captain Bonneville. This flask had either 
been* passed from baud to hand of the tribe, or. perhaps, had 
been brought to the fort by the very savage who slew him. 

As the bull boat was now nearly worn out. and altogether 
unfit for the broader and more turbulent stream of the Missouri, 
it was given up, and a canoe of cotton-wood, about twenty feet 
long, fabricated by the Blackfeet, was purchased to supply its 
place. In this Wyeth hoisted his sail, and bidding adieu to the 
hospitable superintendent of Fort Union, turned his prow to the 
east, and set oft' down the Missouri. 

He had not proceeded many hours, before, in the evening, he 
came to a large keel boat, at anchor. It proved to be the boat 
of Captain William Sublette, freighted with munitions for carry- 
ing on a powerful opposition to the American Fur Company. 
The voyagers went on board, where they were treated with the 
hearty hospitality of the wilderness, and passed a social evening, 
talking over past scenes and adventures, and especially the memo- 
rable fight at Pierre's Hole. 

Here Milton Sublette determined to give up further voyaging 



NAVAL BATTLE WITH A BEAR. 361 



in the canoe, and remain with his brother ; accordingly, in the 
morning, the fellow-voyagers took kind leave of each other, and 
Wyeth continued on his course. There was now no one on board 
of his boat that had ever voyaged on the Missouri ; it was, how- 
ever, all plain sailing down the stream, without any chance of 
missing the way. 

All day the voyagers pulled gently along, and landed in the 
evening and supped ; then re-embarking, they suffered the canoe 
to float down with the current ; taking turns to watch and sleep. 
The night was calm and serene ; the elk kept up a continual 
whinnying or squealing, being the commencement of the season 
when they are in heat. In the midst of the night, the canoe 
struck on a sand-bar, and all hands were aroused by the rush and 
roar of the wild waters, which broke around her. They were all 
obliged to jump overboard, and work hard to get her off, which 
was accomplished with much difficulty. 

In the course of the following day they saw three grizzly 
bears at different times along the bank. The last one was on a 
point of land, and was evidently making for the river, to swim 
across. The two half-breed hunters were now eager to repeat the 
manoeuvre of the noose ; promising to entrap Bruin, and have 
rare sport in strangling and drowning him. Their only fear was, 
that he might take fright and return to land before they could 
get between him and the shore. Holding back, therefore, until 
he was fairly committed in the centre of the stream, they then 
pulled forward with might and main, so as to cut off his retreat, 
and take him in the rear. One of the worthies stationed himself 
in the bow, with the cord and slip-noose, the other, with the Nez 
Perce, managed the paddles. There was nothing further from 
the thoughts of honest Bruin, however, than to beat a retreat. 

16 



BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



Just as the canoe ^Yas drawiDg near, lie turned suddenly round 
and made for it. with a horrible snarl, and a tremendous show of 
teeth. The affrighted hunter called to his comrades to paddle 
off. Scarce had they turned the boat, when the bear laid his 
enormous claws on the gunwale, and attempted to get on board. 
The canoe was nearly overturned, and a deluge of water came 
pouring over the gunwale. All was clamor, terror, and confu- 
sion. Every one bawled out — the bear roared and snarled — one 
caught up a gun : but water had rendered it useless. Others 
handled their paddles more effectually, and beating old Bruin 
about the head and claws, obliged him to relinquish his hold. 
They now plied their paddles with might and main, the bear 
made the best of his way to shore, and so ended the second ex- 
ploit of the noose : the hunters determining to have no more 
naval contests with grizzly bears. 

The voyagers were now out of the range of Crows and Black- 
feet ; but they were approaching the country of the Kees, or 
Arickaras ; a tribe no less dangerous : and who were, generally, 
hostile to small parties. 

In passing through their country. Wyeth laid by all day. and 
drifted quietly down the river at night. In this way. he passed 
on. until he supposed himself safely through the region of dan- 
ger : when he resumed his voyaging in the open day. On the 
3d of September he had landed, at mid-day, to dine ; and while 
some were making a tire, one of the hunters mounted a high 
bank to look out for game. He had scarce glanced his eye round, 
when he perceived horses grazing on the opposite side of the river. 
Crouching down, he slunk back to the camp, and reported what 
he had seen. On further reconnoitring, the voyagers counted 
twenty-one lodges : and. from the number of horses, computed 



A PERILOUS SITUATION. 363 



that there must be nearly a hundred Indians encamped there. 
They now drew their boat, with all speed and caution, into a 
thicket of water willows, and remained closely concealed all day. 
As soon as the night closed in they re-embarked. The moon 
would rise early ; so that they had but about two hours of dark- 
ness to get past the camp. The night, however, was cloudy, with 
a blustering wind. Silently, and with muffled oars, they glided 
down theL river, keeping close under the shore opposite to the 
camp ; watching its various lodges and fires, and the dark forms 
passing to and fro between them. Suddenly, on turning a point 
of land, they found themselves close upon a camp on their own 
side of the river. It appeared that not more than one half of 
the band had crossed. They were within a few yards of the 
shore ; they saw distinctly the savages — some standing, some 
lying round the fire. Horses were grazing around. Some lodges 
were set up, others had been sent across the river. The red 
glare of the fires upon these wild groups and harsh faces, con- 
trasted with the surrounding darkness, had a startling efi"ect, as 
the voyagers suddenly came upon the scene. The dogs of the 
camp perceived them, and barked ; but the Indians, fortunately, 
took no heed of their clamor. Wyeth instantly sheered his boat 
out into the stream ; when, unluckily, it struck upon a sand-bar, 
and stuck fast. It was a perilous and trying situation ; for he 
was fixed between the two camps, and within rifle range of both. 
All hands jumped out into the water, and tried to get the boat 
oiF ; but as no one dared to give the word, they could not pull 
together, and their labor was in vain. In this way they labored 
for a long time ; until Wyeth thought of giving a signal for a 
general heave, by lifting his hat. The expedient succeeded. 
They launched their canoe again into deep water, and getting in, 



364 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

had the delight of seeing the camp fires of the savages soon 
fading in the distance. 

Thej continued under way the greater part of the night, 
until far beyond all danger from this band, when they pulled to 
shore, and encamped. 

The following day was windy, and they came near upsetting 
their boat in carrying sail. Towards evening, the wind subsided, 
and a beautiful calm night succeeded. They floated along with 
the current throughout the night, taking turns to watch and steer. 
The deep stillness of the night was occasionally interrupted by 
the neighing of the elk, the hoarse lowing of the buffalo, the 
hooting of large owls, and the screeching of the small ones, now 
and then the splash of a beaver, or the gong-like sound of the 
swan. 

Part of their voyage was extremely tempestuous : with high 
winds, tremendous thunder, and soaking rain : and they were 
repeatedly in extreme danger from drift-wood and sunken 
trees. On one occasion, having continued to float at night, after 
the moon was down, they ran under a great snag, or sunken tree, 
with dry branches above the water. These caught the mast, 
while the boat swung round, broadside to the stream, and began 
to fill with water. Nothing saved her from total wreck, but cut- 
ting away the mast. She then drove down the stream, but left 
one of the unlucky half-breeds clinging to the snag, like a mon- 
key to a pole. It was necessary to run in shore, toil up. labori- 
ously, along the eddies, and to attain some distance above the 
snag, when they launched forth again into the stream, and floated 
down with it to his rescue. 

We forbear to detail all the circumstances and adventures, 
of upwards of a month's voyage, down the windings and doub- 



COURSE OF THE RIVERS. 365 



lings of this vast river ; in the course of which, they stopped, 
occasionally, at a post of one of the rival fur companies, or at a 
government agency for an Indian tribe. Neither shall we dwell 
upon the changes of climate and productions, as the voyagers 
swept down from north to south, across several degrees of lati- 
tude ; arriving at the regions of oaks and sycamores ; of mul- 
berry and basswood trees ; of paroquets and wild turkeys. This 
is one of the characteristics of the middle and lower part of the 
Missouri ; but still more so of the Mississippi, whose rapid cur- 
rent traverses a succession of latitudes, so as in a few days to 
float the voyager almost from the frozen regions to the tropics. 

The voyage of Wyeth shows the regular and unobstructed 
flow of the rivers, on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, in 
contrast to those of the western side ; where rocks and rapids 
continually menace and obstruct the voyager. We find him in 
a frail bark of skins, launching himself in a stream at the foot 
of the Rocky Mountains, and floating down from river to river, 
as they empty themselves into each other ; and so he might have 
kept on, upwards of two thousand miles, until his little bark 
should drift into the ocean. At present, we shall stop with him 
at Cantonment Leavenworth, the frontier post of the United 
States ; where he arrived on the 27th of September. 

Here, his first care was to have his Nez Perce Indian, and his 
half-breed boy, Baptiste, vaccinated. As they approached the 
fort, they were hailed by the sentinel. The sight of a soldier in 
full array, with what appeared to be a long knife glittering on 
the end of his musket, struck Baptiste with such afi'right, that 
he took to his heels, bawling for mercy at the top of his voice. 
The Nez Perec would have followed him, had not Wyeth assured 
him of his safety. When they underwent the operation of the 



3€6 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



lancet, the doctor's wife and another hidy were present : both 
beautiful women. They were the first white women that they 
had seen, and they could not keep their eyes ofl' of them. On re- 
turning to the boat, they recounted to their companions all that 
they had observed at the fort : but were especially eloquent about 
the white squaws, who. they said, were white as snow, and more 
beautiful than any human being they had ever beheld. 

We shall not accompany the captain any further in his voy- 
age ; but will simply state, that he made his way to Boston, 
where he succeeded in organizing an association under the name 
of '• The Columbia River Fishing and Trading Company/' for 
his original objects 6f a salmon fishery and a trade in furs. A 
brig, the May Dacres. had been dispatched for the Columbia with 
supplies : and he was now on his way to the same point, at the 
head of sixty men. whom he had enlisted at St. Louis : some of 
whom were experienced hunters, and all more habituated to the 
life of the wilderness than his first band of - down-easters." 

TS'e will now return to Captain Bonneville and his party, 
whom we left, making up their packs and saddling their horses, 
in Bear Eiver vallev. 



DEPARTURE FOR THE COLUMBIA. 367 



CHAPTER XLII. 

Departure of Captain Bonneville for the Columbia. — Advance of Wyeth. — 
Efforts to keep the lead. — Hudson's Bay party. — A junketing. — A delecta- 
ble beverage. — Honey and alcohol. — High carousing. — The Canadian hon 
vivant. — A cache. — A rapid move. — Wyeth and his plans. — his travelling 
companions. — Buflalo hunting. — More conviviality. — An interruption. 

It was the 3d of July, that Captain Bonneville set out on his 
second visit to the banks of the Columbia, at the head of twenty- 
three men. He travelled leisurely, to keep his horses fresh, until 
on the 10th of July, a scout brought word that Wyeth, with his 
band, was but fifty miles in the rear, and pushing forward with 
all speed. This caused some bustle in the camp ; for it was 
important to get first to the buffalo ground, to secure provisions 
for the journey. As the horses were too heavily laden to travel 
fast, a cache was digged, as promptly as possible, to receive all 
superfluous baggage. Just as it was finished, a spring burst out 
of the earth at the bottom. Another cache was therefore digged, 
about two miles further on ; when, as they were about to bury 
the efi"ects, a line of horsemen, with pack-horses, were seen streak- 
ing over the plain, and encamped close by. 

It proved to be a small band in the service of the Hudson's 
Bay Company, under the command of a veteran Canadian ; one 
of those petty leaders, who, with a small party of men, and a 



368 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



small supply of goods, are employed to follow up a band of 
Indians from one hunting ground to another, and buy up their 
peltries. 

Having received numerous civilities from the Hudson's Bay 
Company, the captain sent an invitation to the officers of the 
party to an evening regale ; and set to work to make jovial pre- 
parations. As the night air in these elevated regions is apt to be 
cold, a blazing fire was soon made, that would have done credit 
to a Christmas dinner, instead of a midsummer banquet. The 
parties met in high good-fellowship. There was abundance of 
such hunters' fare as the neighborhood furnished ; and it was all 
discussed with mountain appetites. They talked over all the 
events of their late campaigns ; but the Canadian veteran had 
been unlucky in some of his transactions ; and his brow began to 
grow cloudy. Captain Bonneville remarked his rising spleen, 
and regretted that he had no juice of the grape, to keep it down. 

A man's wit, however, is quick and inventive in the wilder- 
ness ; a thought suggested itself to the captain, how he might 
brew a delectable beverage. Among his stores, was a keg of 
honey but half exhausted. This he filled up with alcohol, and 
stirred the fiery and mellifluous ingredients together. The glo- 
rious result may readil}- be imagined ; a happy compound, of 
strength and sweetness, enough to soothe the most ruffled tem- 
per, and unsettle the most solid understanding. 

The beverage worked to a charm ; the can circulated merrily ; 
the first deep draught washed out every care from the mind of 
the veteran ; the second, elevated his spirit to the clouds. He 
was, in fact, a boon companion ; as all veteran Canadian traders 
are apt to be. He now became glorious ; talked over all his 
exploits, his huntings, his fightings with Indian braves, his loves 



WYETH AND HIS PARTY. 369 



with Indian beauties ; sang snatches of old French ditties, and 
Canadian boat songs ; drank deeper and deeper, sang louder and 
louder ; until, having reached a climax of drunken gayety, he 
gradually declined, and at length, fell fast asleep upon the 
ground. After a long nap, he again raised his head, imbibed 
another potation of the "sweet and strong," flashed up with 
another slight blaze of French gayety, and again fell asleep. 

The morning found him still upon the field of action, but in 
sad and sorrowful condition ; suffering the penalties of past 
pleasures, and calling to mind the captain's dulcet compound, 
with many a retch and spasm. It seemed as if the honey and 
alcohol, which had passed so glibly and smoothly over his tongue, 
were at war within his stomach ; and that he had a swarm of bees 
within his head. In short, so helpless and wobegone was his 
plight, that his party proceeded on their march without him ; the 
captain promising to bring him on in safety, in the after part of 
the day. 

As soon as this party had moved off, Captain Bonneville's 
men proceeded to construct and fill their cache ; and just as it 
was completed, the party of Wyeth was descried at a distance. 
In a moment, all was activity to take the road. The horses were 
prepared and mounted ; and being lightened of a great part of 
their burdens, were able to move with celerity. As to the worthy 
convive of the preceding evening, he was carefully gathered up 
from the hunter's couch on which he lay, repentant and supine, 
and, being packed upon one of the horses, was hurried forward 
with the convoy, groaning and ejaculating at every jolt. 

In the course of the day, Wyeth, being lightly mounted, rode 
ahead of his party, and overtook Captain Bonneville. Their 
meeting was friendly and courteous ; and they discussed, socia- 

16* 



370 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



bly, their respective fortunes since they separated on the banks 
of the Bighorn. Wyeth announced his intention of establishing 
a small trading post at the mouth of the Portneuf, and leaving a 
few men there, with a quantity of goods, to trade with the neigh- 
boring Indians. He was compelled, in fact, to this measure, in 
consequence of the refusal of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company 
to take a supply of goods, which he had brought out for them 
according to contract ; and which he had no other mode of dis- 
posing of He further informed Captain Bonneville, that the 
competition between the Rocky Mountain and American Fur 
Companies, which had led to such nefarious stratagems, and 
deadly feuds, was at an end ; they having divided the country 
between them ; allotting boundaries, within which each was to 
trade and hunt, so as not to interfere with the other. 

In company with "Wyeth, were travelling two men of science ; 
Mr. Nuttall, the botanist ; the same who ascended the Missouri, 
at the time of the expedition to Astoria ; and Mr. Townshend, 
an ornithologist ; from these gentlemen, we may look forward 
to important information concerning these interesting regions. 
There were three religious missionaries, also, bound to the shores 
of the Columbia, to spread the light of the gospel in that far 
wilderness. 

After riding for some time together, in friendly conversation, 
Wyeth returned to his party, and Captain Bonneville continued 
to press forward, and to gain ground. At night, he sent off the 
sadly sober, and moralizing chief of the Hudson's Bay Company, 
under a proper escort, to rejoin his people : his route branching 
off in a diflfcrent direction. The latter took a cordial leave of 
his host, hoping, on some future occasion, to repay his hospitality 
in kind. • 



VISITORS TO THE CAMP. 371 



In the morning, the captain was early on the march ; throw- 
ing scouts out far ahead, to scour hill and dale, in search of buf- 
falo. He had confidently expected to find game, in abundance, 
on the head waters of the Portneuf : but on reaching that region, 
not a track was to be seen. 

At length, one of the scouts, who had made a wide sweep 
away to the head waters of the Blackfoot River, discovered great 
herds quietl}^ grazing in the adjacent meadows. He set out on 
his return, to report his discoveries ; but night overtaking him, 
he was kindly and hospitably entertained at the camp of Wyeth. 
As soon as day dawned, he hastened to his own camp with the 
welcome intelligence ; and about ten o'clock of the same morning, 
Captain Bonneville's party were in the midst of the game. 

The packs were scarcely off the backs of the mules, when the 
runners, mounted on the fleetest horses, were full tilt after the 
bufi"alo. Others of the men were busied erecting scaffolds, and 
other contrivances, for jerking or drying meat ; others were light- 
ing great fires for the same purpose ; soon the hunters began to 
make their appearance, bringing in the choicest morsels of buffalo 
meat ; these were placed upon the scaffolds, and the whole camp 
presented a scene of singular hurry and activity. At daylight 
the next morning, the runners again took the field, with similar 
success ; and, after an interval of re]30se made their third and 
last chase, about twelve o'clock ; for by this time, Wyeth's party 
was in sight. The game being now driven into a valley, at some 
distance, Wyeth was obliged to fix his camp there ; but he came 
in the evening to pay Captain Bonneville a visit. He was accom- 
panied by Captain Stewart, the amateur traveller ; who had not 
yet sated his appetite for the adventurous life of the wilderness. 
With him, also, was a Mr M'Kay, a half-breed ; son of the un- 



372 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



fortunate adventurer of the same name, who came out in the first 
maritime expedition to Astoria, and was blown up in the Ton- 
quin. His son had grown up in the employ of the British fur 
companies ; and was a prime hunter, and a daring partisan. He 
held, moreover, a farm, in the valley of the Wallamut. 

The three visitors, when they reached Captain Bonneville's 
camp, were surprised to find no one in it but himself and three 
men ; his party being dispersed in all directions, to make the 
most of their present chance for hunting. They remonstrated 
with him on the imprudence of remaining with so trifling a guard, 
in a region so full of danger. Captain Bonneville vindicated the 
policy of his conduct. He never hesitated to send out all his 
hunters, when any important object was to be attained ; and ex- 
perience had taught him that he was most secure, when his forces 
were thus distributed over the surrounding country. He then 
was sure that no enemy could approach, from any direction, with' 
out being discovered by his hunters ; who have a quick eye for 
detecting the slightest signs of the proximity of Indians : and 
who would instantly convey intelligence to the camp. 

The captain now set to work with his men, to prepare a suita- 
ble entertainment for his guests. It was a time of plenty in the 
camp ; of prime hunters' dainties ; of buffalo humps, and buffalo 
tongues ; and roasted ribs, and broiled marrowbones : all these 
were cooked in hunters' style ; served up with a profusion known 
only on a plentiful hunting ground, and discussed with an appe- 
tite that would astonish the puny gourmands of the cities. But 
above all, and to give a bacchanalian grace to this truly mascu- 
line repast, the captain produced his mellifluous keg of home- 
brewed nectar, which had been so potent over the senses of the 
veteran of Hudson's Bay. Potations, pottle deep, again went 



AN INTERRUPTION. 373 



round : never did beverage excite greater glee, or meet with more 
rapturous commendation. The parties were fast advancing to 
that happy state, which would have insured ample cause for the 
next day's repentance ; and the bees were already beginning to 
buzz about their ears, when a messenger came spurring to the 
camp with intelligence, that Wyeth's people had got entangled in 
one of those deep and frightful ravines, piled with immense frag- 
ments of volcanic rock, which gash the whole country about the 
head waters of the Blackfoot River. The revel was instantly at 
an end ; the keg of sweet and potent home-brewed was deserted ; 
and the guests departed with all speed, to aid in extricating their 
companions from the volcanic ravine. 



374 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

A rapid march. — A cloud of dust. — Wild horsemen. — •* High jinks." — Horse- 
racing and rifle shooting. — The game of hand. — The fishing season. — 
Mode of fishing. — Table lands — Salmon fishers. — The captain's visit to 
an Indian lodge. — The Indian girl. — The pocket mirror. — Supper. — Trou- 
bles of an evil conscience. 

'• Up and aAvay !" is the first thought at daylight of the Indian 
trader, when a rival is at hand and distance is to be gained. 
Early in the morning. Captain Bonneville ordered the half-dried 
meat to be packed upon the horses, and leaving Wyeth and his 
party to hunt the scattered buffalo, pushed off rapidly to the east, 
to regain the plain of the Portneuf His march was rugged and 
dangerous ; through volcanic hills, broken into cliffs and preci- 
pices ; and seamed with tremendous chasms, where the rocks rose 
like walls. 

On the second day, however, he encamped once more in the 
plain, and as it was still early, some of the men strolled out to 
the neighboring hills. In casting their eyes round the country, 
they perceived a great cloud of dust rising in the south, and evi- 
dently approaching. Hastening back to the camp, they gave the 
alarm. Preparations were instantly made to receive an enemy ; 
while some of the men. throwing themselves upon the - running 
horses" kept for hunting, galloped off to reconnoitre. In a little 



WILD HORSEMEN.— " HIGH JINKS." 375 



while, they made signals from a distance that all was friendly. 
By this time, the cloud of dust had swept on as if hurried along 
by a blast, and a band of wild liorsemen came dashing at full 
leap into the camp, yelling and whooping like so many maniacs. 
Their dresses, their accoutrements, their mode of riding, and 
their uncouth clamor, made them seem a party of savages arra^'ed 
for war : but they proved to be principally half-breeds, and white 
men grown savage in the wilderness, who were employed as trap- 
pers and hunters in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. 

Here was again " high jinks " in the camp. Captain Bonne- 
ville's men hailed these wild scamperers as congenial spirits, or 
rather, as the very game birds of their class. They entertained 
them with the hospitality of mountaineers, feasting them at every 
lire. At first, there were mutual details of adventures and ex- 
ploits, and broad joking mingled with peals of laughter. Then 
came on boasting of the comparative merits of horses and rifles, 
which soon engrossed every tongue. This naturally led to racing, 
and shooting at a mark ; one trial of speed and skill succeeded 
another, shouts and acclamations rose from the victorious parties, 
fierce altercations succeeded, and a general melee w^as about to 
take place, when suddenly the attention of the quarrellers was 
arrested by a strange kind of Indian chant or chorus, that seemed 
to operate upon them as a charm. Their fury was at an end ; a 
tacit reconciliation succeeded, and the ideas of the whole mon- 
grel crowd — whites, half-breeds, and squaws — were turned in a 
new direction. They all formed into groups, and taking their 
places at the several fires, prepared for one of the most exciting 
amusements of the Nez Perces, and the other tribes of the Far 
West. 

Tlie choral chant, in ftict, which had thus acted as a charm, 



376 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



was a kind of wild accompaniment to the favorite Indian game 
of " Hand." Tliis is played by two parties drawn out in oppo- 
site platoons before a blazing fire. It is in some respects like 
the old game of passing the ring or the button, and detecting the 
hand which holds it. In the present game, the object hidden, or 
the cache as it is called by the trappers, is a small splint of wood, 
or other diminutive article, that may be concealed in the closed 
hand. This is passed backwards and forwards among the party 
" in hand," while the party " out of hand " guess where it is 
concealed. To heighten the excitement and confuse the guessers, 
a number of dry poles are laid before each platoon, upon which 
the members of the party " in hand " beat furiously with short 
staves, keeping time to the choral chant already mentioned, which 
waxes fast and furious as the game proceeds. As large bets are 
stakexi upon the game, the excitement is prodigious. Each party 
in turn bursts out in full chorus, beating, and yelling, and work- 
ing themselves up into such a heat, that the perspiration rolls 
down their naked shoulders, even in the cold of a winter night. 
The bets are doubled and trebled as the game advances, the men- 
tal excitement increases almost to madness, and all the worldly 
effects of the gamblers are often hazarded upon the position ol 
a straw. 

These gambling games were kept up throughout the night ; 
every fire glared upon a group that looked like a crew of maniacs 
at their frantic orgies ; and the scene would have been kept up 
throughout the succeeding day, had not Captain Bonneville in- 
terposed his authority, and, at the usual hour, issued his march- 
ing orders. 

Proceeding down the course of Snake River, the hunters 
regularly returned to camp in the evening laden with wild geese, 



SALMON FISHERY. 377 



which were yet scarcely able to fly, and were easily caught in 
great numbers. It was now the season of the annual fish-feast, 
with which the Indians in these parts celebrate the first appear- 
ance of the salmon in this river. These fish are taken in great 
numbers at the numerous falls of about four feet pitch. The 
Indians flank the shallow water just below, and spear them as 
they attempt to pass. In wide parts of the river, also, they place 
a sort of'chevaux-de-frize, or fence, of poles interwoven with 
withes, and forming an angle in the middle of the current, where 
a small opening is left for the salmon to pass. Around this open- 
ing the Indians station themselves on small rafts, and ply their 
spears with great success. 

The table lands so common in this region have a sandy soil, 
inconsiderable in depth, and covered with sage, or more properly 
speaking, wormwood. Below this, is a level stratum of rock, 
riven occasionally by frightful chasms. The whole plain rises as 
it approaches the river, and terminates with high and broken 
cliff's, difficult to pass, and in many places so precipitous, that it 
is impossible, for days together, to get down to the water's edge, 
to give drink to the horses. This obliges the traveller occasion- 
ally to abandon the vicinity of the river, and make a wide sweep 
into the interior. 

It was now far in the month of July, and the party suff"ered 
extremely from sultry weather and dusty travelling. Tlie flies 
and gnats, too, were extremely troublesome to the horses ; espe- 
cially when keeping along the edge of the river where it runs be- 
tween low sand-banks. Whenever the travellers encamped in 
the afternoon, the horses retired to the gravelly shores and re- 
mained there, without attempting to feed until the cool of the 
evening. As to the travellers, they plunged into the clear and 



378 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



cool current, to wash away the dust of the road, and refresh them 
selves after the heat of the day. The nights were always cool 
and pleasant. 

At one place where they encamped for some time, the river 
was nearly five hundred yards wide, and studded with grassy 
islands, adorned with groves of willow and cotton-wood. Here 
the Indians were assembled in great numbers, and had barricaded 
the channels between the islands, to enable them to spear the 
salmon with greater facility. They were a timid race, and seemed 
unaccustomed to the sight of white men. Entering one of the 
huts. Captain Bonneville found the inhabitants just proceeding 
to cook a fine salmon. It is put into a pot filled with cold water, 
and hung over the fire. The moment the water begins to boil, 
the fish is considered cooked. 

Taking his seat unceremoniously, and lighting his pipe, the 
captain awaited the cooking of the fish, intending to invite him- 
self to the repast. The owner of the hut seemed to take his 
intrusion in good part. While conversing with him, the captain 
felt something move behind him, and turning round and remov- 
ing a few skins and old buffalo robes, discovered a young girl, 
about fourteen years of age, crouched beneath, who directed her 
large black eyes full in his face, and continued to gaze in mute 
surprise and terror. The captain endeavored to dispel her fears, 
and drawing a bright riband from his pocket, attempted repeat- 
edly to tie it round her neck. She jerked back at each attempt, 
uttering a sound very much like a snarl ; nor could all the blan- 
dishments of the captain, albeit a pleasant, good-looking, and 
somewhat gallant man, succeed in conquering the shyness of the 
savage little beauty. His attentions were now turned to the 
parents, whom he presented with an awl and a little tobacco, and 



THE TEMPTING MIRROR. 379 



having thus secured their good will, continued to smoke his pipe 
and watch the salmon. While thus seated near the threshold, an 
urchin of the family approached the door, but catching a sight 
of the strange guest, ran off screaming with terror, and ensconced 
himself behind the long straw at the back of the hut. 

Desirous to dispel entirely this timidity, and to open a trade 
with the simple inhabitants of the hut, who, he did not doubt, 
had furs somewhere concealed ; the captain now drew forth that 
grand lure in the eyes of the savage, a pocket mirror. The sight 
of it was irresistible. After examining it for a long time with 
wonder and admiration, they produced a muskrat skin, and offered 
it in exchange. The captain shook his head ; but purchased the 
skin for a couple of buttons — superfluous trinkets ! as the worthy 
lord of the hovel had neither coat nor breeches on which to place 
them. 

The mirror still continued the great object of desire, particu- 
larly in the eyes of the old housewife, who produced a pot of 
parched flour and a string of biscuit roots. These procured her 
some trifle in return ; but could not command the purchase of 
the mirror. The salmon being now completely cooked, they all 
joined heartily in supper. A bounteous portion was deposited 
before the captain by the old woman, upon some fresh grass, 
which served instead of a platter ; and never had he tasted a 
salmon boiled so completely to his fancy. 

Supper being over, the captain lighted his pipe and passed it 
to his host, who, inhaling the smoke, puffed it through his nos- 
trils so assiduously, that in a little while his head manifested 
signs of confusion and dizziness. Being satisfied, by this time, 
of the kindly and companionable qualities of the captain, he be- 
came easy and communicative ; and at length hinted something 



380 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



about exchanging beaver skins for horses. The captain at once 
offered to dispose of his steed, which stood fastened at the door. 
The bargain was soon concluded, whereupon the Indian, remov- 
ing a pile of bushes under which his valuables were concealed, 
drew forth the number of skins agreed upon as the price. 

Shortly afterwards, some of the captain's people coming up, 
he ordered another horse to be saddled, and mounting it took his 
departure from the hut, after distributing a few trifling presents 
among its simple inhabitants. During all the time of his visit, 
the little Indian girl had kept her large black eyes fixed upon 
him, almost without winking, watching every movement with awe 
and wonder ; and as he rode off, remained gazing after him, mo- 
tionless as a statue. Her father, however, delighted with his new 
acquaintance, mounted his newly purchased horse, and followed 
in the train of the captain, to whom he continued to be a faithful 
and useful adherent during his sojourn in the neighborhood. 

The cowardly effects of an evil conscience were evidenced in 
the conduct of one of the captain's men, who had been in the 
Californian expedition. During all their intercourse with the 
harmless people of this place, he had manifested uneasiness and 
anxiety. While his companions mingled freely and joyously 
with the natives, he went about with a restless, suspicious look ; 
scrutinizing every painted form and face, and starting often at 
the sudden approach of some meek and inoffensive savage, who 
regarded him with reverence as a superior being. Yet this was 
ordinarily a bold fellow, who never flinched from danger, nor 
turned pale at the prospect of a battle. At length he requested 
permission of Captain Bonneville to keep out of the way of these 
people entirely. Their striking resemblance, he said, to the peo- 
ple of Ogden's River, made him continually fear that some among 



TERRORS OF A GUILTY CONSCIENCE. 381 



them might have seen him in that expedition ; and might seek an 
opportunity of revenge. Ever after this, while they remained in 
this neighborhood, he would skulk out of the way and keep aloof, 
when any of the native inhabitants approached. " Such," ob- 
serves Captain Bonneville, " is the effect of self-reproach, even 
upon the roving trapper in the wilderness, who has little else to 
fear than the stings of his own guilty conscience." 



383 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

Outfit of a trapper. — Risks to which he is subjected. — Partnership of trappers. 
— Enmity of Indians. — Distant smoke. — A country on fire. — Gun Creek. — 
Grand Rond. — Fine pastures. — Perplexities in a smoky country. — Conflagra- 
tion of forests. 

It had been the intention of Captain Bonneville, in descending 
along Snake River, to scatter his trappers upon the smaller 
streams. In this way, a range of country is trapped by small 
detachments from a main body. The outfit of a trapper is 
generally a rifle, a pound of powder, and four pounds of lead, 
with a bullet mould, seven traps, an axe, a hatchet, a knife and 
awl, a camp kettle, two blankets, and, where supplies are plenty, 
seven pounds of flour. He has, generally, two or three horses, 
to carry himself, and his baggage and peltries. Two trappers 
commonly go together, for the purposes of mutual assistance and 
support ; a larger party could not easily escape the eyes of the 
Indians. It is a service of peril, and even more so at present 
than formerly, for the Indians, since they have got into the habit 
of trafficking peltries with the traders, have learnt the value of 
the beaver, and look upon the trappers as poachers, who are 
filching the riches from their streams, and interfering with their 
market. They make no hesitation, therefore, to murder the 



A TRAPPING ESTABLISHMENT. 383 



solitary trapper, and thus destroy a competitor, while they 
possess themselves of his spoils. It is with regret we add, too, 
that this hostility has in many cases been instigated by traders, 
desirous of injuring their rivals, but who have themselves often 
reaped the fruits of the mischief they have sown. 

When two trappers undertake any considerable stream, 
their mode of proceeding is, to hide their horses in some lonely 
glen, where they can graze unobserved. They then build a small 
hut, dig out a canoe from a cotton-wood tree, and in this, poke 
along shore silently, in the evening, and set their traps. These, 
they revisit in the same silent way at daybreak. When they take 
any beaver, they bring it home, skin it, stretch the skin on sticks 
to dry, and feast upon the flesh. The body, hung up before the 
fire, turns by its own weight, and is roasted in a superior style ; 
the tail is the trapper's titbit ; it is cut off, put on the end of a 
stick, and toasted, and is considered even a greater dainty than 
the tongue or the marrow-bone of a buffalo. 

With all their silence and caution, however, the poor trappers 
cannot always escape their hawk-eyed enemies. Their trail has 
been discovered, perhaps, and followed up for many a mile ; or 
their smoke has been seen curling up out of the secret glen, or 
has been scented by the savages, whose sense of smell is almost 
as acute as that of sight. Sometimes they are pounced upon 
when in the act of setting their traps ; at other times, they are 
roused from their sleep by the horrid war-whoop ; or, perhaps, 
have a bullet or an arrow whistling about their ears, in the midst 
of one of their beaver banquets. In this way they are picked off, 
from time to time, and nothing is known of them, until, per- 
chance, their bones are found bleaching in some lonely ravine, or 
on the banks of some nameless stream, which from that time is 



384 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



called after them. Many of the small streams beyond the moun- 
tains thus perpetuate the names of unfortunate trappers that 
have been murdered on their banks. 

A knowledge of these dangers deterred Captain Bonneville, 
in the present instance, from detaching small parties of trappers 
as he had intended ; for his scouts brought him word, that formi- 
dable bands of the Banneck Indians were lying on the Boisee 
and Payette Rivers, at no great distance, so that they would be 
apt to detect and cut off any stragglers. It behooved him, also, to 
keep his party together, to guard against any predatory attack 
upon the main body ; he continued on his way, therefore, without 
dividing his forces. And fortunate it was that he did so ; for in 
a little while, he encountered one of the phenomena of the west 
ern wilds, that would effectually have prevented his scattered 
people from finding each other again. In a word, it was the 
season of setting j&re to the prairies. As he advanced, he began 
to perceive great clouds of smoke at a distance, rising by degrees, 
and spreading over the whole face of the country. The atmos- 
phere became dry and surcharged with murky vapor, parching to 
the skin, and irritating to the eyes. When travelling among the 
hills, they could scarcely discern objects at the distance of a few 
paces ; indeed, the least exertion of the vision was painful. There 
was evidently some vast conflagration in the direction toward 
which they were proceeding ; it was as yet at a great distance, 
and during the day, they could only see the smoke rising in 
larger and denser volumes, and rolling forth in an immense 
canopy. At night, the skies were all glowing with the reflection 
of unseen fires ; hanging in an immense body of lurid light, high 
above the horizon. 

Having reached Grun Creek, an important stream coming from 



A COUNTRY ON FIRE. 385 



the left, Captain Bonneville turned up its course, to traverse 
the mountains and avoid the great bend of Snake River. Being 
now out of the range of the Bannecks, he sent out his people in 
all directions to hunt the antelope for present supplies ; keeping 
the dried meats for places where game might be scarce. 

During four days that the party were ascending Gun Creek, 
the smoke continued to increase so rapidly, that it was impossible 
to distinguish the face of the country and ascertain landmarks. 
Fortunately, the travellers fell upon an Indian trail, which led 
them to the head waters of the Fourche de Glace or Ice River, 
sometimes called the Grand Rond, Here they found all the 
plains and valleys wrapped in one vast conflagration ; which 
swept over the long grass in billows of flame, shot up every bush 
and tree, rose in great columns from the groves, and sent up 
clouds of smoke that darkened the atmosphere. To avoid this 
sea of fire, the travellers had to pursue their course close along 
the foot of the mountains ; but the irritation from the smoke 
continued to be tormenting. 

The country about the head waters of the Grand Rond, 
spreads out into broad and level prairies, extremely fertile, and 
watered by mountain springs and rivulets. These prairies are 
resorted to by small bands of the Skynses, to pasture their horses, 
as well as to banquet upon the salmon which abound in the neigh- 
boring waters. They take these fish in great quantities and 
without the least difficulty ; simply taking them out of the water 
with their hands, as they flounder and struggle in the numerous 
long shoals of the principal streams. At the time the travellers 
passed over these prairies, some of the narrow deep streams 
by which they were intersected, were completely choked with 
salmon, which they took in great numbers. The wolves and 

17 



386 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



bears frequent these streams at this season, to avail themselves 
of these great fisheries. 

The travellers continued, for many days, to experience great 
difficulties and discomforts from this wide conflagration, which 
seemed to embrace the whole wilderness. The sun was for a 
great part of the time obscured by the smoke, and the loftiest 
mountains were hidden from view. Blundering along in this 
region of mist and uncertainty, they were frequently obliged to 
make long circuits, to avoid obstacles which they could not per- 
ceive until close upon them. The Indian trails were their safest 
guides, for though they sometimes appeared to lead them out of 
their direct course, they always conducted them to the passes. 

On the 26th of August, they reached the head of the "Way- 
lee-way River. Here, in a valley of the mountains through 
which this head water makes its way, they found a band of the 
Skynses, who were extremely sociable, and appeared to be well 
disposed, and as they spoke the Nez Perce language, an inter- 
course was easily kept up with them. 

In the pastures on the bank of this stream. Captain Bonne- 
ville encamped for a time, for the purpose of recruiting the 
strength of his horses. Scouts were now sent out to explore the 
surrounding country, and search for a convenient pass through 
the mountains towards the Wallamut or Multnomah. After an 
absence of twenty days, they returned weary and discouraged. 
They had been harassed and perplexed in rugged mountain de- 
files, where their progress was continually impeded by rocks and 
precipices. Often they had been obliged to travel along the 
edges of frightful ravines, where a false step would have been 
fatal. In one of these passes, a horse fell from the brink of a 
precipice, and would have been dashed to pieces, had he not 



BURNING FORESTS. 387 



lodged among the brandies of a tree, from which he was extri- 
cated with great difficulty. These, however, were not the worst 
of their difficulties and perils. The great conflagration of the 
country, which had harassed the main party in its march, was still 
more awful, the further this exploring party proceeded. The 
flames, which swept rapidly over the light vegetation of the prai- 
ries, assumed a fiercer character, and took a stronger hold amidst 
the wooded glens and ravines of the mountains. Some of the 
deep gorges and defiles sent up sheets of flame, and clouds of 
lurid smoke, and sparks and cinders, that in the night made them 
resemble the craters of volcanoes. The groves and forests, too, 
which crowned the clifis, shot up their towering columns of fire, 
and added to the furnace glow of the mountains. With these 
stupendous sights were combined the rushing blasts caused by 
the rarefied air, which roared and howled through the narrow 
glens, and whirled forth the smoke and flames in impetuous 
wreaths. Ever and anon, too, was heard the crash of falling 
trees, sometimes tumbling from crags and precipices, with tremen- 
dous sounds. 

In the daytime, the mountains were wrapped in smoke so 
dense and blinding, that the explorers, if by chance they sepa- 
rated, could only find each other by shouting. Often, too, they 
had to grope their way through the yet burning forests, in con- 
stant peril from the limbs and trunks of trees, which frequently 
fell across their path. At length they gave up the attempt to 
find a pass as hopeless, under actual circumstances, and mndo 
their way back to the camp to report their failure. 



388 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER XLY. 

The Skynses — their traffic — hunting — food — horses. — A horse-race. — Devo- 
tional feeling of the Skynses, Nez Percys, and Flatheads. — Prayers. — Ex- 
hortations. — A preacher on horseback. — Effect of religion on the manners 
of the tribes. — A new light. 

During the absence of this detachment, a sociable intercourse 
had been kept up between the main party and the Skynses, who 
had removed into the neighborhood of the camp. These people 
dwell about the waters of the Way-lee-way and the adjacent 
country, and trade regularly with the Hudson's Bay Company ; 
generally giving horses in exchange for the articles of which they 
stand in need. They bring beaver skins, also, to the trading 
posts; not procured by trapping, but by a course of internal 
traffic with the shy and ignorant Shoshokoes and Too-el-icans, 
who keep in distant and unfrequented parts of the countiy, and 
will not venture near the trading houses. The Skynses hunt the 
deer and elk, occasionally ; and depend, for a part of the year, on 
fishing. Their main subsistence, however, is upon roots, espe- 
cially the kamash. This bulbous root is said to be of a delicious 
flavor, and highly nutritious. The women dig it up in great 
quantities, steam it, and deposit it in caches for winter provisions. 
It grows spontaneously, and absolutely covers the plains. 

This tribe were comfortably clad and equipped. They had a 



INDIAN DEVOTIONS. 389 



few rifles among them, and were extremely desirous of bartering 
for those of Captain Bonneville's men ; offering a couple of good 
running horses for a light rifle. Their first-rate horses, however, 
were not to be procured from them on any terms. They almost 
invariably use ponies ; but of a breed infinitely superior to any 
in the United States. They are fond of trying their speed and 
bottom, and of betting upon them. 

As Captain Bonneville was desirous of judging of the compa- 
rative merit of their horses, he purchased one of their racers, and 
had a trial of speed between that, an American, and a Shoshonie, 
which were supposed to be well matched. The race course was 
for the distance of one mile and a half out and back. For the 
first half mile, the American took the lead, by a few hands ; but, 
losing his wind, soon fell far behind ; leaving the Shoshonie and 
Skynse to contend together. For a mile and a half, they went 
head and head ; but at the turri^ the Skynse took the lead, and 
won the race with great ease ; scarce drawing a quick breath when 
all was over. 

The Skynses, like the Nez Perces and the Flatheads, have a 
strong devotional feeling, which has been successfully cultivated 
by some of the resident personages of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany. Sunday is invariably kept sacred among these tribes. 
They will not raise their camp on that day, unless in extreme 
cases of danger or hunger : neither will they hunt, nor fish, nor 
trade, nor perform any kind of labor on that day. A part of it 
is passed in prayer and religious ceremonies. Some chief, who 
is, generally, at the same time what is called a " medicine man," 
assembles the community. After invoking blessings from the 
Deity, he addresses the assemblage ; exhorting them to good con- 
duct ; to be diligent in providing for their families ; to abstain 



390 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



from lying and stealing : to avoid quarrelling or cheating in their 
play, and to be just and hospitable to all strangers wlio may be 
among them. Prayers and exhortations are also made, early in 
the morning, on week days. Sometimes, all this is done by the 
chief, from horseback ; moving slowly about the camp, with his 
hat on, and uttering his exhortations with a loud voice. On all 
occasions, the bystanders listen with profound attention ; and at 
the end of every sentence, respond one word in unison : appa- 
rently equivalent to an amen. While these prayers and exhorta- 
tions are going on. every employment in the camp is suspended. 
If an Indian is riding by the place, he dismounts, holds his 
horse, and attends with reverence until all is done. When the 
chief has finished his prayer or exhortation, he says, '• I have 
done ;" upon which there is a general exclamation in unison. 

With these religious services, probably derived from the white 
men, the tribes above-mentioned*mingle some of their old Indian 
ceremonials ; such as dancing to the cadence of a song or ballad ; 
which is generally done in a large lodge, provided for the pur- 
pose. Besides Sundays, they likewise observe the cardinal holi- 
days of the Roman Catholic Church. 

Whoever has introduced these simple forms of religion among 
these poor savages, has evidently understood their characters and 
capacities, and effected a great melioration of their manners. Of 
this, we speak not merely from the testimony of Captain Bonne- 
ville, but, likewise, from that of Mr. Wyeth, who passed some 
months in a travelling camp of the Flatlieads. •• During the time 
I have been with them." says he, '■ I have never known an in- 
stance of theft among them : the least thing, even to a bead or 
pin, is brought to you, if found ; and often, things that have been 
thrown away. Neither have I known any quarrelling, nor lying. 



EFFECTS OF RELIGION. 391 



This absence of all quarrelling the more surprised me. when I 
came to see the various occasions that would have given rise to it 
among the whites : the crowding together of from twelve to 
eighteen hundred horses, which have to be driven into camp at 
night, to be picketed ; to be packed in the morning ; the gather- 
ing of fuel in places where it is extremely scanty. All this, how- 
ever, is done without confusion or disturbance. 

'• They have a mild, playful, laughing disposition ; and thii^ 
is portrayed in their countenances. They are polite, and unob- 
trusive. When one speaks, the rest pay strict attention : when 
he is done, another assents by ' yes,' or dissents by ' no ;' and 
then states his reasons, which are listened to with equal atten- 
tion. Even the children are more peaceable than other children. 
I never heard an angry word among them, nor any quarrelling ; 
although there were, at least, five hundred of them together, and 
continually at play. With all this quietness of spirit, they are 
brave when put to the test ; and are an overmatch for an equal 
number of Blackfeet." 

The foregoing observations, though gathered from Mr. Wyeth 
as relative to the Flatheads, apply, in the main, to the Skynses, 
also. Captain Bonneville, during his sojourn with the latter, 
took constant occasion, in conversing with their principal men, to 
encourage them in the cultivation of moral and religious habits ; 
drawing a comparison between their peaceable and comfortable 
course of life, and that of other tribes, and attributing it to their 
superior sense of morality and religion. He frequently attended 
their religious services, with his people ; always enjoining on the 
latter the most reverential deportment ; and he observed that 
the poor Indians were always pleased to have the white men 
present. 



392 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



The disposition of these tribes is evidently favorable to a 
considerable degree of civilization. A few farmers, settled among 
them, might lead them, Captain Bonneville thinks, to till the 
earth and cultivate grain ; the country of the Skynses, and Nez 
Perces, is admirably adapted for the raising of cattle. A Chris- 
tian missionary or two, and some trifling assistance from govern- 
ment, to protect them from the predatory and warlike tribes, 
might lay the foundation of a Christian people in the midst of the 
great western wilderness, who would " wear the Americans near 
their hearts." 

We must not omit to observe, however, in qualification of the 
sanctity of this Sabbath in the wilderness, that these tribes, who 
are all ardently addicted to gambling and horse-racing, make 
Sunday a peculiar day for recreations of the kind, not deeming 
them in any wise out of season. After prayers and pious cere- 
monials are over, there is scarce an hour in the day, says Captain 
Bonneville, that you do not see several horses racing at full speed ; 
and in every corner of the camp, are groups of gamblers, ready 
to stake every thing upon the all-absorbing game of hand. The 
Indians, says Wyeth, appear to enjoy their amusements with 
more zest than the whites. They are great gamblers ; and in 
proportion to their means, play bolder, and bet higher than white 
men. 

The cultivation of the religious feeling, above noted, among 
the savages, has been, at times, a convenient policy, with some 
of the more knowing traders ; who have derived great credit and 
influence among them, by being considered " medicine men ;" 
that is, men gifted with mysterious knowledge. This feeling is, 
also, at times, played upon by religious charlatans ; who are to 
be found in savage, as well as civilized life. One of these was 



A NEW LIGHT. 393 



noted by "Wyetli, during his sojourn among the Flatheads. A 
new great man, says he, is rising in the camp, who aims at power 
and sway. He covers his designs under the ample cloak of reli- 
gion ; inculcating some new doctrines and ceremonials among 
those who are more simple than himself. He has already made 
proselytes of one-fifth of the camp ; beginning by working on the 
women, the children, and the weak-minded. His followers are 
all dancing on the plain, to their own vocal music. The more 
knowing ones of the tribe look on and laugh ; thinking it all too 
foolish to do harm ; but they will soon find that women, children, 
and fools, form a large majority of every community, and they 
will have, eventually, to follow the new light, or be considered 
among the profane. As soon as a preacher, or pseudo prophet 
of the kind, gets followers enough, he either takes command of 
the tribe, or branches ofiF and sets up for an independent chief 
and " medicine man." 



394 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

Scarcity in the camp. — Refusal of supplies by the Hudson's Bay Company.— 
Conduct of the Indians. — A hungiy retreat. — John Day's River. — The 
Blue Mountains. — Salmon fishing on Snake River. — Messengers from the 
Crow country. — Bear River valley. — Immense migration of buffalo. — 
Danger of buffalo hunting. — A wounded Indian. — Eutaw Indians. — A 
" surround " of antelopes. 

Provisions were now growing scanty in the camp, and Captain 
Bonneville found it necessary to seek a new neighborhood. 
Taking leave, therefore, of his friends, the Skynses, he set off to 
the westward, and, crossing a low range of mountains, encamped 
on the head waters of the Ottolais. Being now within thirty 
miles of Fort Wallah- Wallah, the trading post of the Hudson's 
Bay Company, he sent a small detachment of men thither, to 
purchase corn for the subsistence of his party. The men were 
well received at the fort ; but all supplies for their camp were 
peremptorily refused. Tempting offers were made them, how- 
ever, if they would leave their present employ, and enter into the 
service of the company ; but they were not to be seduced. 

When Captain Bonneville saw his messengers return empty- 
handed, he ordered an instant move, for there was imminent 
danger of famine. He pushed forward down the course of the 
Ottolais, which runs diagonal to the Columbia, and falls into 



A LOCKED-UP COUNTRY. 395 



it about fifty miles below the Wallah- Wallah. His route lay- 
through a beautiful undulating country, covered with horses 
belonging to the Skynses, who sent them there for pasturage. 

On reaching the Columbia, Captain Bonneville hoped to open 
a trade with the natives, for fish and other provisions, but to his 
surprise, they kept aloof, and even hid themselves on his approach. 
He soon discovered that they were under the influence of the 
Hudson's Bay Company, who had forbidden them to trade, or 
hold any communion with him. He proceeded along the Colum- 
bia, but it was every where the same ; not an article of provisions 
was to be obtained from the natives, and he was. at length, 
obliged to kill a couple of his horses to sustain his famishing 
people. He now came to a halt, and consulted what was to 
be done. The broad and beautiful Columbia lay before them, 
smooth and unruffled as a mirror ; a little more journeying 
would take them to its lower region ; to the noble valley of the 
Wallamut, their projected winter quarters. To advance under 
present circumstances would be to court starvation. The re- 
sources of the country were locked against them, by the influence 
of a jealous and powerful monopoly. If they reached the Walla- 
mut, they could scarcely hope to obtain sufficient supplies for the 
winter ; if they lingered any longer in the country, the snows 
would gather upon the mountains and cut off their retreat. By 
hastening their return, they would be able to reach the Blue 
Mountains just in time to find the elk, the deer, and the bighorn ; 
and after they had supplied themselves with provisions, they 
might push through the mountains, before they were entirely 
blocked up by snow. Influenced by these considerations. Cap- 
tain Bonneville reluctantly turned his back a second time on the 
Columbia, and set off for the Blue Mountains. He took his 



396 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



course up John Day's River, so called from one of the hunters 
in the original Astorian enterprise. As famine was at his heels, 
he travelled fast, and reached the mountains by the 1st of Octo- 
ber. He entered by the opening made by John Day's River : it 
was a rugged and difficult defile, but he and his men had become 
accustomed to hard scrambles of the kind. Fortunately, the 
September rains had extinguished the fires which recently spread 
over these regions ; and the mountains, no longer wrapped in 
smoke, now revealed all their grandeur and sublimity to the eye. 

They were disappointed in their expectation of finding abun- 
dant game in the mountains ; large bands of the natives had 
passed through, returning from their fishing expeditions, and 
had driven all the game before them. It was only now and then 
that the hunters could bring in sufficient to keep the party from 
starvation. 

To add to their distress, they mistook their route, and wan- 
dered for ten days among high and bald hills of clay. At length, 
after much perplexity, they made their way to the banks of Snake 
River, following the course of which, they were sure to reach 
their place of destination. 

It was the 20th of October when they found themselves once 
more upon this noted stream. The Shoshokoes, whom they had 
met with in such scanty numbers on their journey down the river, 
now absolutely thronged its banks to profit by the abundance of 
salmon, and lay up a stock for winter provisions. Scafi"olds were 
every where erected, and immense quantities of fish drying upon 
them. At this season of the year, however, the salmon are ex- 
tremely poor, and the travellers needed their keen sauce of hun- 
ger to give them a relish. 

In some places the shores were completely covered with a 



APPROACH OF WINTER. 397 



\ 



stratum of dead salmon, exhausted in ascending the river, or de- 
stroyed at the falls ; the fetid odor of which tainted the air. 

It was not until the travellers reached the head waters of the 
Portneuf, that they really found themselves in a region of abun- 
dance. Here the buffalo were in immense herds ; and here they 
remained for three days, slaying, and cooking, and feasting, and 
indemnifying themselves by an enormous carnival, for a long and 
hungry Lent. Their horses, too, found good pasturage, and en- 
joyed a little rest after a severe spell of hard travelling. 

During this period, two horsemen arrived at the camp, who 
proved to be messengers sent express for supplies from Montero's 
party ; which had been sent to beat up the Crow country and the 
Black Hills, and to winter on the Arkansas. They reported that 
all was well with the party, but that they had not been able to 
accomplish the whole of their mission, and were still in the Crow 
country, where they should remain until joined by Captain Bon- 
neville in the spring. The captain retained the messengers with 
him until the 17th of November, when, having reached the caches 
on Bear River, and procured thence the required supplies, he 
sent them back to their party ; appointing a rendezvous towards 
the last of June following, on the forks of Wind Biver valley, in 
the Crow country. 

He now remained several days encamped near the caches, and 
having discovered a small band of Shoshonies in his neighbor- 
hood, purchased from them lodges, furs, and other articles of 
winter comfort, and arranged with them to encamp together 
during the winter. 

The place designed by the captain for the wintering ground 
was on the upper part of Bear Biver, some distance off. He de- 
layed approaching it as long as possible, in order to avoid driving 



398 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



off the buffalo, which would be needed for winter provisions. He 
accordingly moved forward but slowly, merely as the want of 
game and grass obliged him to shift his position. The weather 
had already become extremely cold, and the snow lay to a con- 
siderable depth. To enable the horses to carry as much dried 
meat as possible, he caused a cache to be made, in which all the 
baggage that could be spared was deposited. This done, the 
party continued to move slowly toward their winter quarters. 

They were not doomed, however, to suffer from scarcity dur- 
ing the present winter. The people upon Snake River having 
chased off the buffalo before the snow had become deep, immense 
herds now came trooping over the mountains ; forming dark 
masses on their sides, from which their deep-mouthed bellowing 
sounded like the low peals and mutterings from a gathering thun- 
der-cloud. In effect, the cloud broke, and down came the torrent 
thundering into the valle}^ It is utterly imjDOSsible, according 
to Captain Bonneville, to convey an idea of the effect produced 
by the sight of such countless throngs of animals of such bulk 
and spirit, all rushing forward as if swept on by a whirlwind. 

The long privation which the travellers had suffered gave un- 
common ardor to their present hunting. One of the Indians 
attached to the party, finding himself on horseback in the midst 
of the buffaloes, without either rifle, or bow and arrows, dashed 
after a fine cow that was passing close by him, and plunged his 
knife into her side with .such lucky aim as to bring her to the 
ground. It was a daring deed ; but hunger had made him almost 
desperate. 

The buffaloes are sometimes tenacious of life, and must be 
wounded in particular parts. A ball striking the shagged front- 
let of a bull, produces no other effect than a toss of the head, 



THE GORED HUNTER. 399 



and greater exasperation ; on the contrary, a ball striking the 
forehead of a cow, is fatal. Several instances occurred during 
this great hunting bout, of bulls fighting furiously after having 
received mortal wounds. Wyeth, also, was witness to an instance 
of the kind while encamped with Indians. During a grand hunt 
of the buffalo, one of the Indians pressed a bull so closely that 
the animal turned suddenly upon him. His horse stopped short, 
or started back, and threw him. Before he could rise, the bulk 
rushed furiously upon him, and gored him in the chest, so that 
his breath came out at the aperture. He was conveyed back to 
the camp, and his wound was dressed. G-iving himself up for 
slain, he called round him his friends, and made his will by word 
of mouth. It was something like a death chant, and at the end 
of every sentence those around responded in concord. He ap- 
peared no ways intimidated by the approach of death. " I think,"' 
adds Wyeth, " the Indians die better than the white men ; per- 
haps, from having less fear about the future." 

The buffalo may be approached very near, if the hunter keeps 
to the leeward ; but they are quick of scent, and will take the 
alarm and move off from a party of hunters, to the windward, 
even when two miles distant. 

The vast herds which had poured down into the Bear Biver 
valley, were now snow-bound, and remained in the neighborhood 
of the camp throughout the winter. This furnished the trappers 
and their Indian friends a perpetual carnival ; so that, to slay 
and eat seemed to be the main occupations of the day. It is 
astonishing what loads of meat it requires to cope with the appe- 
tite of a hunting camp. 

The ravens and wolves soon came in for their share of the 
good cheer. These constant attendants of the hunter gathered 



400 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



in vast numbers as the winter advanced. They might be com- 
pletely out of sight, but at the report of a gun, flights of ravens 
would immediately be seen hovering in the air, no one knew 
whence they came ; while the sharp visages of the wolves would 
peep down from the brow of every hill, waiting for the hunter's 
departure, to pounce upon the carcass. 

Beside the buffaloes, there were other neighbors snow-bound 
ip. the valley, whose presence did not promise to be so advanta- 
geous. This was a band of Eutaw Indians, who were encamped 
higher up on the river. They are a poor tribe, that, in a scale of 
the various tribes inhabiting these regions, would rank between 
the Shoshonies and the Shoshokoes or Root Diggers ; though 
more bold and warlike than the latter. They have but few rifles 
among them, and are generally armed with bows and arrows. 

As this band and the Shoshonies were at deadly feud, on ac- 
count of old grievances, and as neither party stood in awe of the 
other, it was feared some bloody scenes might ensue. Captain 
Bonneville, therefore, undertook the office of pacificator, and sent 
to the Eutaw chiefs, inviting them to a friendly smoke, in order 
to bring about a reconciliation. His invitation was proudly de- 
clined ; whereupon he went to them in person, and succeeded in 
effecting a suspension of hostilities, until the chiefs of the two 
tribes could meet in council. The braves of the two rival camps 
sullenly acquiesced in the arrangement. They would take their 
seats upon the hill tops, and watch their quondam enemies hunt- 
ing the buffalo in the plain below, and evidently repine, that their 
hands were tied up from a skirmish. The worthy captain, how- 
ever, succeeded in carrying through his benevolent mediation. 
The chiefs met : the amicable pipe was smoked, the hatchet buried, 
and peace formally proclaimed. After this, both camps united 



ANTELOPE HUNTING. 401 



and mingled in social intercourse. Private quarrels, however, 
would occasionally occur in hunting, about the division of the 
game, and blows would sometimes be exchanged over the carcass 
of a buffalo ; but the chiefs wisely took no notice of these indivi- 
dual brawls. 

One day, the scouts, who had been ranging the hills, brought 
news of several large herds of antelopes in a small valley at no 
great distance. This produced a sensation among the Indians, 
for both tribes were in ragged condition, and sadly in want of 
those shirts made of the skin of the antelope. It was deter- 
mined to have " a surround," as the mode of hunting that ani- 
mal is called. Every thing now assumed an air of mystic so- 
lemnity and importance. The chiefs prepared their medicines or 
charms, each according to his own method, or fancied inspiration, 
generally with the compound of certain simples ; others consulted 
the entrails of animals which they had sacrificed, and thence 
drew favorable auguries. After much grave smoking and delibe- 
rating, it was at length proclaimed, that all who were able to lift 
a club, man, woman, or child, should muster for "the surround." 
When all had congregated, they moved in rude procession to 
the nearest point of the valley in question, and there halted. 
Another course of smoking and deliberating, of which the Indians 
are so fond, took place among the chiefs. Directions were then 
issued for the horsemen to make a circuit of about seven miles, 
so as to encompass the herd. When this was done, the whole 
mounted force dashed off, simultaneously, at full speed, shouting 
and yelling at the top of their voices. In a short space of time, 
the antelopes, started from their hiding places, came bounding 
from all points into the valley. The riders now gradually con- 
tracting their circle, brought them nearer and nearer to the spot, 



402 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



where the senior chief, surrounded by the elders, male and female, 
was seated in supervision of the chase. The antelopes, nearly 
exhausted with fatigue and fright, and bewildered by perpetual 
whooping, made no effort to break through the ring of the hunt- 
ers, but ran round in small circles, until man, woman, and child, 
beat them down with bludgeons. Such is the nature of that 
species of antelope hunting, technically called '• a surround." 



A FESTIVE WINTER. 403 



CHAPTER XLYII. 

A festive winter. — Conversion of the Shoshonies. — Visit of two free trappers. 
— Gayety in the camp. — A touch of the tender passion. — The reclaimed 
squaw. — An Indian fine lady. — An elopement. — A pursuit. — Market value 
of a bad wife. 

G-AME continued to abound throughout the winter ; and the camp 
was overstocked with provisions. Beef and venison, humps and 
haunches, buifalo tongues and marrow-bones, were constantly 
cooking at every fire ; and the whole atmosphere was redolent 
with the savory fumes of roast meat. It was, indeed, a continual 
" feast of fat things," and though there might be a lack of " wine 
upon the lees," yet, we have shown that a substitute was occa- 
sionally to be found in honey and alcohol. 

Both the Shoshonies and the Eutaws conducted themselves 
with great propriety. It is true, they now and then filched a few 
trifles from their good friends, the Big Hearts, when their backs 
were turned ; but then, they always treated them, to their faces, 
with the utmost deference and respect ; and good-humoredly vied 
with the trappers in all kinds of feats of activity and mirthful 
sports. The two tribes maintained towards each other, also, a 
friendliness of aspect, which gave Captain Bonneville reason to 
hope that all past animosity was efi"ectually buried. 

The two rival bands, however, had not long been mingled in 



404 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



this social manner, before their ancient jealousy began to break 
out, in a new form. The senior chief of the Shoshonies was a 
thinking man, and a man of observation. He had been among 
the Nez Perces, listened to their new code of morality and reli- 
gion received from the white men, and attended their devotional 
exercises. He had observed the effect of all this, in elevating 
the tribe in the estimation of the white men ; and determined, 
by the same means, to gain for his own tribe a superiority over 
their ignorant rivals, the Eutaws. He accordingly assembled his 
people, and promulgated among them the mongrel doctrines and 
form of worship of the Nez Perces ; recommending the same to 
their adoption. The Shoshonies were struck with the novelty, 
at least, of the measure, and entered into it with spirit. They 
began to observe Sundays and holidays, and to have their devo- 
tional dances, and chants, and other ceremonials, about which, the 
ignorant Eutaws knew nothing ; while they exerted their usual 
competition in shooting and horseracing, and the renowned game 
of hand. 

Matters were going on thus pleasantly and prosperously, in 
this motley community of white and red men, when, one morn- 
ing, two stark free trappers, arrayed in the height of savage j&nery, 
and mounted on steeds as fine and as fiery as themselves, and all 
jingling with hawks' bells, came galloping, with whoop and halloo, 
into the camp. 

They were fresh from the winter encampment of the Ameri- 
can Fur Company, in the Green River valley ; and had come 
to pay their old comrades of Captain Bonneville's company a 
visit. An idea may be formed, from the scenes we have already 
given of conviviality in the wilderness, of the manner in which 
these game birds were received by those of their feather in the 



THE TWO DASHING FREE TRAPPERS. 405 



camp ; what feasting, what revelling, what boasting, what brag- 
ging, what ranting and roaring, and racing and gambling, and 
squabbling and fighting, ensued among these boon companions. 
Captain Bonneville, it is true, maintained always a certain degree 
of law and order in his camp, and checked each fierce excess : 
but the trappers, in their seasons of idleness and relaxation, 
require a degree of license and indulgence, to repay them for the 
long privations, and almost incredible hardships of their periods 
of active service. 

In the midst of all this feasting and frolicking, a freak of the 
tender passion intervened, and wrought a complete change in the 
scene. Among the Indian beauties in the camp of the Eutaws 
and Shoshonies, the free trappers discovered two, who had whilom 
figured as their squaws. These connections frequently take place 
for a season, and sometimes continue for years, if not perpetually ; 
but are apt to be broken when the free trapper starts ofi", sud- 
denly, on some distant and rough expedition. 

In the present instance, these wild blades were anxious to 
regain their belles ; nor were the latter loath once more to come 
under their protection. The free trapper combines, in the eye 
of an Indian girl, all that is dashing and heroic in a warrior of 
her own race, whose gait, and garb, and bravery he emulates, 
with all that is gallant and glorious in the white man. And then 
the indulgence with which he treats her, the finery in which he 
decks her out, the state in which she moves, the sway she enjoys 
over both his purse and person, instead of being the drudge and 
slave of an Indian husband ; obliged to carry his pack, and build 
his lodge, and make his fire, and bear his cross humors and dry 
blows. — No ; there is no comparison, in the eyes of an aspiring 
belle of the wilderness, between a free trapper and an Indian brave. 



406 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 

With respect to one of the parties, the matter was easily ar- 
ranged. The beauty in question was a pert little Eutaw wench, 
that had been taken prisoner, in some war excursion, by a Sho- 
shonie. She was readily ransomed for a few articles of trifling 
value ; and forthwith figured about the camp in fine array, " with 
rings on her fingers, and bells on her toes," and a tossed-up 
coquetish air, that made her the envy, admiration, and abhorrence, 
of all the leathern-dressed, hard-working squaws of her acquaint- 
ance. 

As to the other beauty, it was quite a difi'erent matter. She 
had become the wife of a Shoshonie brave. It is true, he had 
another wife, of older date than the one in question ; who, there- 
fore, took command in his household, and treated his new spouse 
as a slave ; but the latter was the wife of his last fancy, his latest 
caprice ; and was precious in his eyes. All attempt to bargain 
with him, therefore, was useless ; the very proposition was re- 
pulsed with anger and disdain. The spirit of the trapper was 
roused, his pride was piqued as well as his passion. He endea- 
vored to prevail upon his quondam mistress to elope with him. 
His horses were fleet, the winter nights were long and dark, be- 
fore daylight they would be beyond the reach of pursuit ; and 
once at the encampment in Grreen River valley, they might set 
the whole band of Shoshonies at defiance. 

The Indian girl listened and longed. Her heart yearned after 
the ease and splendor of condition of a trapper's bride, and 
throbbed to be freed from the capricious control of the premier 
squaw ; but she dreaded the failure of the plan, and the fury of 
a Shoshonie husband. They parted ; the Indian girl in tears, 
and the madcap trapper more mad than ever, with his thwarted 
passion. 



AN ELOPEMENT AND PURSUIT. 407 



Their interviews had. probably, been detected, and the jea- 
lousy of the Shoshonie brave aroused : a clamor of angry voices 
was heard in his lodge, with the sound of blows, and of female 
weeping and lamenting. At night, as the trapper lay tossing on 
his pallet, a soft voice whispered at the door of his lodge. His 
mistress stood trembling before him. She was ready to follow 
whithersoever he should lead. 

In an instant, he was up and out. He had two prime horses, 
sure, and swift of foot, and of great wind. With stealthy quiet, 
they were brought up and saddled ; and, in a few moments, he 
and his prize were careering over the snow, with which the whole 
country was covered. In the eagerness of escape, they had made 
no provision far their journey ; days must elapse before they 
could reach their haven of safety, and mountains and prairies 
be traversed, wrapped in all the desolation of winter. For the 
present, however, they thought of nothing but flight ; urging 
their horses foj-ward over the dreary wastes, and fancying, in the 
howling of every blast, they heard the yell of the pursuer. 

At early dawn, the Shoshonie became aware of his loss. 
Mounting his swiftest horse, he set off in hot pursuit. He soon 
found the trail of the fugitives, and spurred on in hopes of over- 
taking them. The winds, however, which swept the valley, had 
drifted the light snow into the prints made by the horses' hoofs. 
In a little while, he lost all trace of them, and was completely 
thrown out of the chase. He knew, however, the situation of the 
camp toward which they were bound, and a direct course through 
the mountains, by which he might arrive there sooner than the 
fugitives. Through the most rugged defiles, therefore, he urged 
his course by day and night, scarce pausing until he reached the 
camp. It was some time before the fugitives made their appear- 



408 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



ance Six days, had tbej been traversing the wintry wilds. 
They came, haggard with hunger and fatigue, and their horses 
faltering under them. The first object that met their eyes, on 
entering the camp, was the Shoshonie brave. He rushed, knife 
in hand, to plunge it in the heart that had proved false to him. 
The trapper threw himself before the cowering form of his mis- 
tress, and, exhausted as he was, prepared for a deadly struggle. 
The Shoshonie paused. His habitual awe of the white man 
checked his arm : the trapper's friends crowded to the spot, and 
arrested him. A parley ensued. A kind of crim. con. adjudication 
took place : such as frequently occurs in civilized life. A couple 
of horses were declared to be a fair compensation for the loss of a 
woman who had previously lost her heart ; with this, the Shosho- 
nie brave was fain to pacify his passion. He returned to Captain 
Bonneville's camp, somewhat crest-fallen, it is true ; but parried 
the officious condolemeuts of his friends, by observing, that two 
good horses were very good pay for one bad wife. 



{ 



MOVE TO GREEN RIVER. 409 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

Breaking jp of winter quarters. — Move to Green River. — A trapper and his 
rifle. — An arrival in camp. — A free trapper and his squaw in distress. — 
Story of a Blackfoot belle. 

The winter was now breaking up. the snows were melted from 
the hills, and from the lower parts of the mountains, and the 
time for decamping bad arrived. Captain Bonneville dispatched 
a part}^ to the caches, who brought away all the effects concealed 
there, and on the 1st of April (1S35). the camp was broken up, 
and every one on the move. The white men and their allies, 
the Eutaws and Shoshonies, parted with many regrets and sin- 
cere expressions of good-will, for their intercourse throughout the 
winter had been of the most friendly kind. 

Captain Bonneville and his party passed by Ham's Fork, and 
reached the Colorado, or Green River, without accident, on the 
banks of which they remained during the residue of the spring. 
During this time, they were conscious that a band of hostile 
Indians were hovering about their vicinity, watching for an 
opportunity to slay or steal ; but the vigilant precautions of 
Captain Bonneville baffled all their manoeuvres. In such dan- 
gerous times, the experienced mountaineer is never without his 
rifle, even in camp. On going from lodge to lodge to visit his 
comrades, he takes it with him. On seating himself in a lodge, he 

18 



410 BONNEVILLE'^S ADVENTURES. 



lays it beside him, ready to be snatched up ; when he goes out, 
he takes it up as regularly as a citizen would his walking staff. 
His rifle is his constant friend and protector. 

On the 10th of June, the party were a little to the east of the 
Wind River Mountains, where they halted for a time in excellent 
pasturage, to give their horses a chance to recruit their strength 
for a long journey ; for it was Captain Bonneville's intention to 
shape his course to the settlements : having already been detained 
by the complication of his duties, and by various losses and 
impediments, far beyond the time specified in his leave of ab- 
sence. 

While the party was thus reposing in the neighborhood of the 
Wind River Mountains, a solitary free trapper rode one day into 
the camp, and accosted Captain Bonneville. He belonged, he 
said, to a party of thirty hunters, who had just passed through 
the neighborhood, but whom he had abandoned in consequence 
of their ill treatment of a brother trapper ; whom they had cast 
off from their party, and left with his bag and baggage, and an 
Indian wife into the bargain, in the midst of a desolate prairie. 
The horseman gave a piteous account of the situation of this 
helpless pair, and solicited the loan of horses to bring them and 
their effects to the camp. 

The captain was not a man to refuse assistance to any one in 
distress, especially when there was a woman in the case ; horses 
were immediately dispatched, with an escort, to aid the unfortu- 
nate couple. The next day, they made their appearance with all 
their effects : the man, a stalwart mountaineer, with a peculiarly 
game look ; the woman, a young Blackfoot beauty, arrayed in 
the trappings and trinketry of a free trapper's bride. 

Finding the woman to be quick-witted and communicative, 



STORY OF THE BLACKFOOT WOMAN. 411 



Captilin Bonneville entered into conversation with her, and ob- 
tained from her many particulars concerning the habits and cus- 
toms of her tribe ; especially their wars and huntings. They 
pride themselves upon being the " best legs of the mountains," 
and hunt the buffalo on foot. This is done in spring time, when 
the frosts have thawed and the ground is soft. The heavy buf- 
falo then sink over their hoofs at every step, and are easily over- 
taken by the Blackfeet ; whose fleet steps press lightly on the 
surface. It is said, however, that the buffalo on the Pacific side 
of the Bocky Mountains are fleeter and more active than on the 
Atlantic side ; those upon the plains of the Columbia can scarcely 
be overtaken by a horse that would outstrip the same animal in 
the neighborhood of the Platte, the usual hunting ground of the 
Blackfeet. In the course of further conversation, Captain Bon- 
neville drew from the Indian woman her whole story ; which gave 
a picture of savage life, and of the drudgery and hardships to 
which an Indian wife is subject. 

" I was the wife," said she, " of a Blackfoot warrior, and I 
served him faithfully. Who was so well served as he ? Whose 
lodge was so well provided, or kept so clean ? I brought wood 
in the morning, and placed water always at hand. I watched for 
his coming ; and he found his meat cooked and ready. If he 
rose to go forth, there was nothing to dela}^ him. I searched the 
thought that was in his heart, to save him the trouble of speak- 
ing. When I went abroad on errands for him, the chiefs and 
warriors smiled upon me, and the young braves spoke soft things, 
in secret ; but my feet were in the straight path, and my eyes 
could see nothing but him. 

" When he went out to hunt, or to war, who aided to equip 
him, but I ? When he returned, I met him at the door ; I took 



412 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



his gun ; and he entered without further thought. While he sat 
and smoked, I unloaded his horses ; tied them to the stakes ; 
brought in their loads, and was quickly at his feet. If his moc- 
casons were wet, T took them off and put on others which were 
dry and warm, I dressed all the skins he had taken in the chase. 
He could never say to me, why is it not done ? He hunted the 
deer, the antelope, and the buffalo, and he watched for the enemy. 
Every thing else was done by me. When our people moved their 
camp, he mounted his horse and rode away ; free as though he 
had fallen from the skies. He had nothing to do with the labor 
of the camp ; it was I that packed the horses, and led them on 
the journey. When we halted in the evening, and he sat with 
the other braves and smoked, it was I that pitched his lodge ; 
and when he came to eat and sleep, his supper and his bed were 
ready. 

'• I served him faithfully ; and what was my reward ? A 
cloud was always on his brow, and sharp lightning on his tongue. 
I was his dog ; and not his wife. 

" Who was it that scarred and bruised me ? It was he. My 
brother saw how I was treated. His heart was big for me. He 
begged me to leave my tyrant and fly. Where could I go ? If 
retaken, who would protect me ? My brother was not a chief ; 
he could not save me from blows and wounds, perhaps death. At 
length I was persuaded. I followed my brother from the village. 
He pointed the way to the Nez PercCs, and bade me go and live 
in peace among them. We parted. On the third day I saw tie 
lodges of the Nez Perces before me. I paused for a moment, 
and had no heart to go on ; but my horse neighed, and I took it 
as a good sign, and suffered him to gallop forward. In a little 
while I was in the midst of the lodges. *As I sat silent on my 



STORY OF THE BLAGKFOOT WOMAN. 413 



horse, the people gathered round me, and inquired whence I came. 
I told my story. A chief now wrapped his blanket close around 
him, and bade me dismount. I obeyed. He took my horse to 
lead him away. My heart grew small within me. I felt, on 
parting with my horse, as if my last friend was gone. I had no 
words, and my eyes were dry. As he led off my horse, a young 
brave stepped forward. ' Are you a chief of the people V cried 
he. ' Do we listen to you in council, and follow you in battle ? 
Behold ! a stranger flies to our camp from the dogs of Blackfeet, 
and asks protection. Let shame cover your face ! The stranger 
is a woman, and alone. If she were a warrior, or had a warrior 
by her side, your heart would not be big enough to take her 
horse. But he is yours. By the right of war you may claim 
him ; but look !' — his bow was drawn, and the arrow ready ! — 
' you never shall cross his back !' The arrow pierced the heart of 
the horse, and he fell dead. 

" An old woman said she would be my mother. She led me 
to her lodge : my heart was thawed by her kindness, and my eyes 
burst forth with tears ; like the frozen fountains in spring time. 
She never changed ; but as the days passed away, was still a 
mother to me. The people were loud in praise of the young 
brave, and the chief was ashamed. I lived in peace. 

" A party of trappers came to the village, and one of them 
took me for his wife. This is he. I am very happy ; he treats 
me with kindness, and I have taught him the language of my 
people. As we were travelling this way, some of the Blackfeet 
warriors beset us, and carried off the horses of the party. We 
followed, and my husband held a parley with them. The guns 
were laid down, and the pipe was lighted ; but some of the white 
men attempted to seize the horses by force, and then a battle be- 



414 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



gan. The snow was deep : the white men sank into it at every 
step ; but the red men, with their snow-shoes, passed over the 
surface like birds, and drove off many of the horses in sight of 
their owners. With those that remained we resumed our journey. 
At length words took place between the leader of the party and 
my husband. He took away our horses, which had escaped in 
the battle, and turned us from his camp. My husband had one 
good friend among the trappers. That is he (pointing to the 
man who had asked assistance for them). He is a good man. 
His heart is big. "When he came in from hunting, and found 
that we had been driven away, he gave up all his wages, and fol- 
lowed us, that he might speak good words for us to the white 
captain." 






MONTERO AND HIS PARTY. 415 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

A rendezvous at Wind River. — Campaign of Moiitero and his brigade in the 
Crow country. — Wars between the Crows and Blackfeet. — Death of Ara- 
pooish. — Blackfeet lurkers. — Sagacity of the horse. — Dependence of the 
hunter on his horse. — Return to the settlements. 

On the 22d of June, Captaiu Bonneville raised his camp, and 
moved to the forks of Wind River ; the appointed place of ren- 
dezvous. In a few days, he was joined there by the brigade of 
Montero, which had been sent, in the preceding year, to beat up 
the Crow country, and afterwards proceed to the Arkansas. 
Montero had followed the early part of his instruction^ ; after 
trapping upon some of the upper streams, he proceeded to Pow- 
der River. Here he fell in with the Crow villages or bands, who 
treated him with unusual kindness, and prevailed upon him to 
take up his winter quarters among them. 

The Crows, at that time, were struggling almost for existence 
with their old enemies, the Blackfeet ; who, in the past year, had 
picked off the flower of their warriors in various engagements, 
and among the rest, Arapooish, the friend of the white men. 
That sagacious and magnanimous chief had beheld, with grief, thj 
ravages which war was making in his tribe, and that it was de- 
clining in force, and must eventually be destroyed, unless some 
signal blow could be struck to retrieve its fortunes. In a pitched 
battle of the two tribes, he made a speech to his warriors, urging 



,16 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



them to set every thing at hazard in one furious charge ; which 
done, he led the way into the thickest of the foe. He was soon 
separated from his men, and fell covered with wounds, but his 
self-devotion was not in vain. The Blackfeet were defeated ; and 
from that time the Crows plucked up fresh heart, and were fre- 
quently successful. 

Montero had not been long encamped among them, when he 
discovered that the Blackfeet were hovering about the neighbor- 
hood. One day the hunters came galloping into the camp, and 
proclaimed that a band of the enemy was at hand. The Crows 
flew to arms, leaped on their horses, and dashed out in squadrons 
in pursuit. They overtook the retreating enemy in the midst of 
a plain. A desperate fight ensued. The Crows had the advan- 
tage of numbers, and of fighting on horseback. The greater 
part of the Blackfeet were slain ; the remnant took shelter in a 
close thicket of willows, where the horse could not enter ; whence 
they plied their bows vigorously. 

The%Crows drew off out of bow shot, and endeavored, by 
taunts and bravadoes, to draw the warriors out of their retreat. 
A few of the best mounted among them, rode apart from the rest. 
One of their number then advanced alone, with that martial air 
and equestrian grace for which the tribe is noted. When within 
an arrow's flight of the thicket, he loosened his rein, urged his 
horse to full speed, threw his body on the opposite side, so as to 
hang by but one leg, and present no mark to the foe ; in this 
way, he swept along in front of the thicket, launching his arrows 
from under the neck of his steed. Then regaining his seat in 
the saddle, he wheeled round, and returned whooping and scofl&ng 
to his companions, who received him with yells of applause. 

Another and another horseman repeated this exploit ; but the 
Blackfeet were not to be taunted out of their safe shelter. The 



THE TAUNTING HORSEMAN. 417 



victors feared to drive desperate men to extremities, so they for- 
bore to attempt the thicket. Towards night they gave over the 
attack, and returned all-glorious with the scalps of the slain. 
Then came on the usual feasts and triumphs ; the scalp-dance of 
warriors round the ghastly trophies, and all the other fierce revelry 
of barbarous warfare. When the braves had finished with tl\9 
scalps, they were, as usual, given up to the women and children, 
and made the objects of new parades and dances. They were 
then treasured up as invaluable trophies and decorations by the 
braves who had won them. 

It is worthy of note, that the scalp of a white man, either 
through policy or fear, is treated with more charity than that of 
an Indian. The warrior who won it is entitled to his triumph if 
he demands it. In such case, the war party alone dance round 
the scalp. It is then taken down, and the shagged frontlet of a 
bufialo substituted in its place, and abandoned to the triumphs 
and insults of the million. 

To avoid being involved in these guerillas, as well as to 
escape from the extremely social intercourse of the Crows, which 
began to be oppressive, Montero moved to the distance of several 
miles from their camps, and there formed a winter cantonment of 
huts. He now maintained a vigilant watch at night. Their 
horses, which were turned loose to graze during the day, under 
heedful eyes, were brought in at night, and shut up in strong 
pens, built of large logs of cotton-wood. 

The snows, during a portion of the winter, were so deep that 
the poor animals could find but little sustenance. Here and 
there a tuft of grass would peer above the snow; but they were- 
in general driven to browse the twigs and tender branches of the 
trees.. When they were turned out in the morning, the first 
moments of freedom from the confinement of the pen were spent 

18* 



418 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



in frisking and gambolling. This done, they went soberly and 
sadly to work, to glean their scanty subsistence for the day. In 
the meantime, the men stripped the bark of the cotton-wood tree 
for the evening fodder. As the poor horses would return towards 
night, with sluggish and dispirited air, the moment they saw their 
owners approaching them with blankets filled with cotton-wood 
bark, their whole demeanor underwent a change. A universal 
neighing and capering took place ; they would rush forward, smell 
to the blankets, paw the earth, snort, whinny and prance round 
with head and tail erect, until the blankets were opened, and the 
welcome provender spread before them. These evidences of 
intelligence and gladness were frequently recounted by the trap- 
pers as proving the sagacity of the animal. 

These veteran rovers of the mountains look upon their horses 
as in some respects gifted with almost human intellect. An old 
and experienced trapper, when mounting guard about the camp 
in dark nights and times of peril, gives heedful attention to all 
the sounds and signs of the horses. No enemy enters nor ap- 
proaches the camp without attracting their notice, and their move- 
ments not only give a vague alarm, but it is said, will even indicate 
to the knowing trapper the very quarter whence danger threatens. 

In the daytime, too, while a hunter is engaged on the prairie, 
cutting up the deer or buffalo he has slain, he depends upon his 
faithful horse as a sentinel. The sagacious animal sees and 
smells all round him, and by his starting and whinnying, gives 
notice of the approach of strangers. There seems to be a dumb 
communion and fellowship, a sort of fraternal sympathy, between 
the hunter and his horse. They mutually rely upon each other 
for company and protection ; and nothing is more difficult, it is 
said, than to surprise an experienced hunter on the prairie, while 
his old and favorite steed is at his side. 



HORSE STEALING. 419 



Montero had not long removed his camp from the vicinity of 
the Crows, and fixed himself in his new quarters, when the 
Blackfeet marauders discovered his cantonment, and began to 
haunt the vicinity. He kept up a vigilant watch, however, and 
foiled every attempt of the enemy, who, at length, seemed to 
have given up in despair, and abandoned the neighborhood. The 
trappers relaxed their vigilance, therefore, and one night, after a 
day of severe labor, no guards were posted, and the whole camp 
was soon asleep. Towards midnight, however, the lightest sleepers 
were roused by the trampling of hoofs ; and, giving the alarm, the 
whole party were immediately on their legs, and hastened to the 
pens. The bars were down ; but no enemy was to be seen or 
heard, and the horses being all found hard by, it was supposed 
the bars had been left down through negligence. All were once 
more asleep, when, in about an hour, there was a second alarm, 
and it was discovered that several horses were missing. The 
rest were mounted, and so spirited a pursuit took place, that 
eighteen of the number carried off were regained, and but three 
remained in possession of the enemy. Traps, for wolves, had 
been set about the camp the preceding day. In the morning, it 
was discovered that a Blackfoot was entrapped by one of them, 
but had succeeded in dragging it off. His trail was followed for 
a long distance, which he must have limped alone. At length, 
he appeared to have fallen in with some of his comrades, who had 
relieved him from his painful incumbrance. 

These were the leading incidents of Montero's campaign in 
the Crow country. The united parties now celebrated the 4th 
of July, in rough hunters' style, with hearty conviviality ; after 
which, Captain Bonneville made his final arrangements. Leaving 
Montero with a brigade of trappers to open another campaign, he 
put himself at the head of the residue of his men, and set off on 



420 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



his return to civilized life. "We shall not detail his journey along 
the course of the Nebraska, and so. from point to point of the 
wilderness, until he and his band reached the frontier settlements 
on the •2'2d of August. 

Here, according to his own account, his cavalcade might have 
been taken for a procession of tatterdemalion savages ; for the men 
were ragged almost to nakedness, and had contracted a wildness 
of aspect during three years of wandering in the wilderness. A 
few hours in a populous town, however, produced a magical meta- 
morphosis. Hats of the most ample brim and longest nap : coats 
with buttons that shone like mirrors, and pantaloons of the most 
ample plenitude, took place of the well-worn trappers equip- 
ments; and the happy wearers might be seen strolling about in 
all directions, scattering their silver like sailors just from a 
cruise. 

The worthy captain, however, seems by no means to have 
shared the excitement of his men, on finding himself once more 
in the thronged resorts of civilized life, but, on the contrary, to 
have looked back to the wilderness with regret. •• Though the 
prospect," says he, " of once more tasting the blessings of peace- 
ful society, and passing days and nights under the calm guar- 
dianship of the laws, was not without its attractions : yet to those 
of us whose whole lives had been spent in the stirring excitement 
and perpetual watchfulness of adventures in the wilderness, the 
change was far from promising an increase of that contentment 
and inward satisfaction most conducive to happiness. He who, 
like myself, has roved almost from boyhood among the children 
of the forest, and over the unfurrowed plains and rugged heights 
of the western wastes, will not be startled to learn, that notwith- 
standing all the fascinations of the world on this civilized side of 
the mountains, I would fain make my bow to the splendors and 



CONCLUDING SUGGESTIONS. 421 



gajeties of the metropolis, and plunge again amidst the hardships 
and perils of the wilderness."' 

We have only to add, that the affairs of the captain have been 
satisfactorily arranged with the War Department, and that he is 
actually in service at Fort Gibson, on our western frontier; 
where we hope he may meet with further opportunities of indulg- 
ing his peculiar tastes, and of collecting graphic and character- 
istic details of the great western wilds and their motley inhab- 
itants. 



We here close our pieturiugs of the Kocky Mountains and 
their wild inhabitants, and of the wild life that prevails there ; 
which we have been anxious to fix on record, because we are 
aware that this singular state of things is full of mutation, and 
must soon undergo great changes, if not entirely pass away. 
The fur trade, itself, which has given life to all this portraiture, 
is essentially evanescent. Eival parties of trappers soon exhaust 
the streams, especially when competition renders them heedless 
and wasteful of the beaver. The fur-bearing animals extinct, a 
complete change will come over the scene : the gay free trapper 
and his steed, decked out in wild array, and tinkling with bells 
and trinketry : the savage war chief, plumed and painted, and 
ever on the prowl ; the traders' cavalcade, winding through de- 
files or over naked plains, with the stealthy war party lurking on 
its trail ; the buffalo chase, the hunting camp, the mad carouse 
in the midst of danger, the night attack, the stampado. the 
scamper, the fierce skirmish among rocks and cliffs, — all this 
romance of savage life, which yet exists among the mountains, 
will then exist but in frontier story, and seem like the fictions of 
chivalry or fairy tale. 



422 BONNEVILLE'S ADVENTURES. 



Some new system of things, or rather some new modification, 
will succeed among the roving people of this vast wilderness : 
but just as opposite, perhaps, to the habitudes of civilization. 
The great Chippewyan chain of mountains, and the sandy and 
volcanic plains which extend on either side, are represented as 
incapable of cultivation. The pasturage which prevails there 
during a certain portion of the year, soon withers under the 
aridity of the atmosphere, and leaves nothing but dreary wastes. 
An immense belt of rocky mountains and volcanic plains, several 
hundred miles in width, must ever remain an irreclaimable wil- 
derness, intervening between the abodes of civilization, and afford- 
ing a last refuge to the Indian. Here roving tribes of hunters, 
living in tents or lodges, and following the migrations of the 
game, may lead a life of savage independence, where there is 
nothing to tempt the cupidity of the white man. The amalga- 
mation of various tribes, and of white men of every nation, will 
in time produce hybrid races like the mountain Tartars of the 
Caucasus. Possessed as they are of immense droves of horses, 
should they continue their present predatory and warlike habits, 
they may, in time, become a scourge to the civilized frontiers on 
either side of the mountains ; as they are at present a terror to 
the traveller and trader. 

The facts disclosed in the present work, clearly manifest the 
policy of establishing military posts and a mounted force to pro- 
tect our traders in their journeys across the great western wilds, 
and of pushing the outposts into the very heart of the singular 
wilderness we have laid open, so as to maintain some degree of 
sway over the country, and to put an end to the kind of " black 
mail," levied on all occasions by the savage " chivalry of the 
mountains." 



APPENDIX. 

NATHANIEL J. WYETH, AND THE TRADE OF THE FAR WEST. 

We have brought Captain Bonneville to the end of his western 
campaigning ; yet we cannot close this work without subjoining 
some particulars concerning the fortunes of his contemporary, 
Mr. Wyeth ; anecdotes of whose enterprise have, occasionally, 
been interwoven in the party-colored web of our narrative. 
Wyeth effected his intention of establishing a trading post on the 
Portneuf, which he named Fort Hall. Here, for the first time, 
the American flag was unfurled to the breeze that sweeps the 
great naked wastes of the central wilderness. Leaving twelve 
men here, with a stock of goods, to trade with the neighboring 
tribes, he prosecuted his journey to the Columbia ; where he 
established another post, called Fort Williams, on Wappatoo 
Island, at the mouth of the Wallamut. This was to be the head 
factory of his company ; whence they were to carry on their fish- 
ing and trapping operations, and their trade with the interior ; 
and where they were to receive and dispatch their annual ship. 

The plan of Mr. Wyeth appears to have been well concerted. 
He had observed that the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, the 
bands of free trappers, as well as the Indians west of the moun- 
tains, depended for their supplies upon goods brought from St. 
Louis ; which, in consequence of the expenses and risks of a long 
land carriage, were furnished them at an immense advance on 
first cost. He had an idea that they might be much more cheaply 
supplied from the Pacific side. Horses would cost much less on 
the borders of the Columbia than at St. Louis : the transporta- 
tion by land was much shorter ; and through a country much 
more safe from the hostility of savage tribes ; which, on the route 
from and to St. Louis, annually cost the lives of many men. On 



424 APPENDIX. 



this idea, he grounded his plan. He combined the salmon fishery 
with the fur trade. A fortified trading post was to be estab- 
lished on the Columbia, to carry on a trade with the natives for 
salmon and peltries, and to fish and trap on their own account. 
Once a year, a ship was to come from the United States, to bring 
out goods for the interior trade, and to take home the salmon and 
furs which had been collected. Part of the goods, thus brought 
out, were to be dispatched to the mountains, to supply the trap- 
ping companies and the Indian tribes, in exchange for their furs ; 
which were to be brought down to the Columbia, to be sent home 
in the next annual ship : and thus an annual round was to be 
kept up. The profits on the salmon, it was expected, would cover 
all the expenses of the ship ; so that the goods brought out, and 
the furs carried home, would cost nothing as to freight. 

His enterprise was prosecuted with a spirit, intelligence, and 
perseverance, that merited success. All the details that we have 
met with, prove him to be no ordinary man. He appears to have 
the mind to conceive, and the energy to execute extensive and 
striking plans. He had once more reared the American flag in 
the lost domains of Astoria : and had he been enabled to main- 
tain the footing he had so gallantly efiected, he might have re- 
gained for his country the opulent trade of the Columbia, of 
which our statesmen have negligently sufiered us to be dispos- 
sessed. 

It is needless to go into a detail of the variety of accidents 
and cross-purposes, which caused the failure of his scheme. 
They were such as all undertakings of the kind, involving com- 
bined operations by sea and land, are liable to. What he most 
wanted, was sufiicient capital to enable him to endure incipient 
obstacles and losses : and to hold on until success had time to 
spring up from the midst of disastrous experiments. 

It is with extreme regret we learn that he has recently been 
compelled to dispose of his establishment at Wappatoo Island, to 
the Hudson's Bay Company ; who, it is but justice to say, have, 
according to his own account, treated him throughout the whole 



APPENDIX. 425 



of his enterprise, with great tairness, friendship, and liberality. 
That company, therefore, still maintains an unrivalled sway over 
the whole country washed by the Columbia and its tributaries. 
It has, in fact, as far as its chartered powers permit, followed out 
the splendid scheme contemplated by Mr. Astor. when he founded 
his establishment at the mouth of the Columbia. From their 
emporium of Yancouver, companies are sent forth in every direc- 
tion, to supply the interior posts, to trade with the natives, and 
to trap upon the various streams. These thread the rivers, tra- 
verse the plains, penetrate to the heart of the mountains, extend 
their enterprises northward, to the Russian possessions, and 
southward, to the confines of California. Their yearly supplies 
are received by sea, at Vancouver : and thence their furs and pel- 
tries are shipped to London. They likewise maintain a considera- 
ble commerce, in wheat and lumber, with the Pacific islands, and 
to the north, with the Russian settlements. 

Though the company, by treaty, have a right to a participation 
only, in the trade of these regions, and are. in fact, but tenants 
on suiferance : yet have they quietly availed themselves of the 
original oversight, and subsequent supineness of the American 
government, to establish a monopoly of the trade of the river 
and its dependencies : and are adroitly proceeding to fortify 
themselves in their usurpation, by securing all the strong points 
of the country. 

Fort George, originally Astoria, which was abandoned on the 
removal of the main factory to Vancouver, was renewed in 1830 ; 
and is now kept up as a fortified post and trading house. All 
the places accessible to shipping have been taken possession of. 
and posts recently established at them by the company. 

The great capital of this association : their long established 
system ; their hereditary influence over the Indian tribes : their 
internal organization, which makes every thing go on with the 
regularity of a machine : and the low wages of their people, who 
are mostly Canadians, give them great advantages over the Ame- 
rican traders : nor is it likely the latter will ever be able to main- 



426 APPENDIX. 



tain any footing in the land, until the question of territorial 
right is adjusted between the two countries. The sooner that 
takes place, the better. It is a question too serious to national 
pride, if not to national interest, to be slurred over ; and every 
year is adding to the difficulties which environ it. 

The fur trade, which is now the main object of enterprise 
west of the Rocky Mountains, forms but a part of the real re- 
sources of the country. Beside the salmon fishery of the Colum- 
bia, which is capable of being rendered a considerable source of 
profit ; the great valleys of the lower country, below the elevated 
volcanic plateau, are calculated to give sustenance to countless 
flocks and herds, and to sustain a great population of graziers 
and agriculturists. 

Such, for instance, is the beautiful valley of the Wallamut ; 
from which the establishment at Vancouver draws most of its sup- 
plies. Here, the company holds mills and farms : and has pro- 
vided for some of its superannuated officers and servants. This 
valley, above the falls, is about fifty miles wide, and extends a 
great distance to the south. The climate is mild, being sheltered 
by lateral ranges of mountains ; while the soil, for richness, has 
been equalled to the best of the Missouri lands. The valley of 
the river Des Chutes, is also admirably calculated for a great 
grazing country. All the best horses used by the company for 
the mountains, are raised there. The valley is of such happy 
temperature, that grass grows there throughout the year, and 
cattle may be left out to pasture during the winter. These val- 
leys must form the grand points of commencement of the future 
settlement of the country; but there must be many such, en- 
folded in the embraces of these lower ranges of mountains ; 
which, though at present they lie waste and uninhabited, and to 
the eye of the trader and trapper, present but barren wastes, 
would, in the hands of skilful agriculturists and husbandmen, 
soon assume a difierent aspect, and teem with waving crops, or be 
covered with flocks and herds. 

The resources of the country, too, while in the hands of a 



APPENDIX. 4-37 

company restricted in its trade, can be but partially called forth ; 
but in the hands of Americans, enjoying a direct trade with the 
East Indies, would be brought into quickening activity ; and 
might soon realize the dream of Mr. Astor, in giving rise to a 
flourishing commercial empire. 



WRECK OF A JAPANESE JUNK ON THE NORTH- 
WEST COAST. 

The following extract of a letter which we received, lately, 
from Mr. Wyeth, may be interesting, as throwing some light 
upon the question as to the manner in which America has been 
peopled. 

"Are you aware of the fact, that in the winter of 1833, a 
Japanese junk was wrecked on the northwest coast, in the neigh- 
borhood of Queen Charlotte's Island ; and that all but two of the 
crew, then much reduced by starvation and disease, during a long 
drift across the Pacific, were killed by the natives ? The two fell 
into the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, and were sent to 
England. I saw them, on my arrival at Vancouver, in 1834." 



INSTRUCTIONS TO CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE FROM THE 
MAJOR-GENERAL COMMANDING THE ARMY OF THE 

UNITED STATES. 

Head Quarters of the Army, ) 
Washington, August 3, 1831. \ 

Sir, — The leave of absence which you have asked, for the 
purpose of enabling you to carry into execution your design of 
exploring the country to the Rocky Mountains and beyond, with 
a view of ascertaining the nature and character of the several 
tribes of Indians inhabiting those regions ; the trade which might 
be profitably carried on with them : the quality of the soil, the 
productions, the minerals, the natural history, the climate, the 



458 APPENDIX. 



geography and topography, as well as geology, of the various parts 
of the country within the limits of the territories belonging to 
the United States, between our frontier and the Pacific, — has 
been duly considered and submitted to the War Department 
for approval, and has been sanctioned. You are, therefore^ 
authorized to be absent from the army until^October, 1833. It 
is understood that the government is to be at no expense in 
reference to your proposed expedition, it having originated with 
yourself; and all that you required was the permission from the 
proper authority to undertake the enterprise. You will, naturally, 
in preparing yourself for the expedition, provide suitable instru- 
ments, and especially the best maps of the interior to be found. 

It is desirable, besides what is enumerated as the object of 
your enterprise, that you note particularly the number of warriors 
that may be in each tribe or nation that you may meet with ; 
their alliances with other tribes, and their relative position as to 
a state of peace or war, and whether their friendly or warlike 
dispositions towards each other are recent or of long standing 
You will gratify us by describing their manner of making war ; 
of the mode of subsisting themselves during a state of war, and 
a state of peace ; their arms, and the effect of them ; whether 
they act on foot or on horseback ; detailing the discipline and 
manoeuvres of the war parties ; the power of their horses, size, 
and general description ; in short, every information which you 
may conceive would be useful to the government. 

You will avail yourself of every opportunity of informing us 
of your position and progress, and at the expiration of your 
leave of absence, will join your proper station. 

I have the honor to be, Sir, 
Your obt. servant, 

ALEXANDER MACOMB, 
Major- General, comtnanding the Army. 

Capt. B. L. E. Bonneville, 

7th Regt. of Infantry, New York. 



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PAGE 

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Book of the Hudson, ^ 

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Chaucer and Spenser, 27 

Coe— Drawing Cards, 25 

Coleridge— Biouraphia Literaria. 2 vols., . b 

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'• The Pilot, 16 

" The Ways of the Hour, .... 16 

Cowper— The Iliad of Homer, A 

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Lynch, Miss A. C— Poems, . . . . 22 A 30 
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Mayo — Kaloolah, 17 

Montagu— Selections from Taylor.' &c., . 30 
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Richard's Shakspeare Calendar. .... A 
'Roorbach- Bibliotheca Americana, ... 31 
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Taylor— Rhymes of Travel, .... 6 & 31 

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Turnbull— The Genius of Italy, . > . 6 <fc 30 
Tuthiil, Mrs.— The Nursery Book, ... 32 

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Willard— Ten Yeai-s of AmericiUi \\<f. 9 

Young Naturalist's Rambles, . >? 

Yoimg Patroon, b 



